Size Matters
by 1Question
Summary: When Paige finds herself unexpectedly in the Transformer's Prime Universe, she's in for more than just a surprise that her favorite characters are real. Cartoons are one thing, but facing the Cons and Mech in real life is another. She'll have to try her hardest to help the Autobots while keeping herself alive as well, but she's always known that some things are just worth it.
1. Chapter 1

**Size Matters**

**Disclaimer: This is fanfiction and I do not own any Transformers characters or stories. **Author's note: Transformer Prime World, but won't include reference to all the episodes.

Paige was changing fitness centers today. She had stopped in for one last workout at her old gym, eaten, showered and was now headed to the new gym to transfer her supplies. An oversized gym bag was packed to the brim and slung over her shoulder. She pushed open the gym door and exited. She lifted a hand to block the blinding sunlight from her face bright even with her sunglasses on. Paige took another step and looked down when she felt like she was walking on sand. She looked back up to see that the sidewalk and the parking lot were gone. Below her was sand with small rocks and sparse green plants sticking out of it. Confused, Paige turned around, but there was no building behind her. Wherever she was, it was just as hot as home and looked like a desert. There were taller stone outcroppings in the distance, but they weren't very large. Paige turned in a full circle and spotted a black line running through the sand. On closer inspection, she noticed the yellow and white lines on it. She laughed as she realized it was a miniature road. Was she inside some sort of scaled down model? It wasn't all sand dunes like the Sahara so maybe Arizona or the Southwest states somewhere. In the distance, movement caught her eye and she headed in that direction. She quickly came up behind a small red car driving down the road and reached for it.

Cliffjumper was on routine patrol and he had just finished talking with Arcee when suddenly he went airborne. Pale tentacle like things gripped his side and surrounded him.

Paige gripped the car avoiding the spinning wheels and examined it. It was a red car with decorative horns on the front. It was a pretty realistic replica. I'm definitely in the Midwest, she thought. The car was empty so Paige assumed it worked on batteries or magnets.

Cliffjumper could feel the force of the air as he was quickly pulled higher. He knew he might not survive if he fell from his current altitude. He almost had a spark attack when he suddenly came bumper to face with a giant visor. Whatever this thing was, it was gigantic and his scanners didn't register it as Cybertronian. Cliffjumper tried his com-link, but it wasn't working. "Scrap," he swore. Suddenly the giant turned its gaze from him to the far right. From this height, both he and it could see a large pit in the ground not far from the road and above it was, the Decepticon Warship, the Nemesis.

Paige blinked in shock. She recognized the Nemesis from the Transformer's Prime series. I'm in someone's reproduction of Transformers Prime, she realized. She looked back at the car in her hand that could only be Cliffjumper and then stuck him in the mesh pocket on the side of her gym bag and zipped it closed. She moved forward quickly to check out the Nemesis. She knelt down as she peered into the pit. She was surprised to see small replicas of the Decepticons actually collecting the blue energon crystals below. Their movements were too erratic to be programmed dolls. They caught sight of her and began to panic. Paige quickly realized that they were actually alive.

"Lord Starscream, what is that?" asked a Vehicon pointing to the being towering over them.

Starscream looked up and then raised his arm. "Attack," he screeched. "Attack!"

Some of the Vehicons took to the air and started firing at the giant while others shot from the ground. Starscream quickly made his way to the ship and prepared to retreat. The ship fired on the giant as well as it began its escape.

Small puffs of smoke and pops like small firecrackers went off around Paige as she returned to her full height. They were annoying, but only the ones that hit open skin stung at all. She brushed away the fliers that were flying near her face like flies and some of them hurtled to the ground exploding on contact. Paige dodged the shots from the ship and pushed at it sending it careening backwards into the sky. Soon enough it gained enough altitude to disappear from her sight. Paige stood for a moment in shock. If the Decepticons were real, then she was really in Transformers Prime. She looked down at herself and grimaced. Why did it have to be in this form though, she wondered. She was like the woman in the movie "Attack of the 50ft Woman", but considering that Cliffjumper was about the size of a model car, she was probably a lot taller than that. In order to survive in this world, Paige knew she was going to need some help and to do that she needed something to exchange. Paige stooped over and grabbed the abandoned boxes of energon crystals from the pit. She quickly used her nails to pull any remaining crystals from the ground and stuffed the whole lot in her gym bag. Now she just needed to find a place to negotiate preferable one with shade.

Cliffjumper had transformed after he'd been dumped into his fabric prison. Whatever the material was, it was difficult to penetrate, but he was working on it. Outside, he could hear dampened explosions and he gripped the walls of his prison as the entire thing swayed. Suddenly it stopped and the prison door above him opened. His captor peered in and then tilted his prison causing him to fall onto the pale soft surface below.

Paige could barely hear anything except the wind as she moved and she realized that she might not be able to hear Cliffjumper if they spoke. If she had been a bot, then maybe she could have turned up her audio receptors. She was also horrified to realize that she could possible hurt him by talking as well. Her lung capacity was probably a thousand times greater than a normal human. Being this big sucked, but she did have a fallback. She removed her phone from her bag and opened the notes app. She typed rapidly and then released Cliffjumper from the bag's pocket. She carefully placed him on a lower cliff ledge of the stone structure she was currently kneeling behind. It provided enough shade from the sun so she could see her screen. She positioned it so he could read it. They knew how to speak English so hopefully they could read it too.

Cliffjumper straightened as pale tentacles that he now realized were fingers once again surrounded him and then gently released him onto a stone ledge. "Primus," he said as he looked up at his visored captor who still towered over him even in the sitting position. He turned at their urging to face a huge data screen. On the screen were words in English. They read: **Hi, My name is Paige. I'm in need of some assistance and I'm willing to make a trade**.

When Cliffjumper's signal disappeared, the Autobots went to investigate, but all they found were the remnants of a battle, burning pieces of Vehicons and a nearly empty energon deposit. They realized sadly that they'd been too late to save Cliffjumper.

xxxxxx

The kids were at the base when Ratchet reopened the groundbridge bringing the returning Autobots back. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead raced through. Optimus quickly followed and transformed skidding to a stop. There was a blue explosion blossoming behind him, but Ratchet shut the groundbridge quickly and prevented it from getting through.

"Cutting it a bit close. Did you find anything?" asked Ratchet.

Optimus shook his head no.

Miko ran to the edge of the platform. "What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come next time?"

Arcee walked over in exasperation. "Look," she started.

Jack ran over to Miko trying to distract her. "Let's go see what the bots hide in their sock drawers." Miko rolled her eyes and they walked toward the hallway.

"Arcee, what did you see?" asked Optimus.

"There was a Vehicon, but not anymore. He was mutated like something from the Con experiments during the war." Suddenly she collapsed to her knees bracing herself against a nearby box. Bee tried to help, but Arcee waved him away. "I'm fine, just dizzy."

"Robots that can get dizzy," Miko whispered.

"Robots with emotions," said Raf.

"Robots who can die," finished Jack.

Ratchet scanned her and asked her about the purple liquid on her hand.

"Don't know, the Vehicon was leaking it," said Arcee.

Ratchet retrieved a sample and examined it. Then he ordered her to take a decontamination bath and Bumblebee helped her get there.

Jack moved forward with his cellphone. "Listen, Optimus, I hate to bug, but no bars."

Optimus nodded. "A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

"Well, if I don't call my mom, like now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be looking for me," he said.

Optimus leaned down. "Have you broken the law?"

"Curfew," said Jack. "It's after 10pm."

Optimus sighed. "Earth customs. I hadn't considered. The issue of your safety remains. Bulkhead, accompany Miko home."

"Awesome," said Miko jumping excitedly. "My host parents will freak."

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle form."

"Curbside duty, got it," said Bullkhead.

"Aw," said Miko.

"Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf," said Optimus. "Ratchet."

"Busy," called Ratchet.

"Arcee, you'll accompany Jack," said Optimus.

"Woo, still dizzy," said Arcee.

Ratchet raised a hand still engrossed in his computer. "You're fine, says your physician."

The bots left with the children.

Suddenly Cliffjumper's signal popped back up on the screen.

"It can't be," said Ratchet.

Optimus peered at the screen from behind him.

"Hey Docbot, I could use a bridge," called Cliffjumper over the com-link.

Ratchet opened the groundbridge and Cliffjumper appeared pulling a cart full of energon crystals through. It was actually four carts tied together with large square boxes filled to the brim. The groundbridge closed behind him.

"Cliffjumper," said Optimus acknowledging him with a nod. "We were afraid we had lost you. We saw the aftermath of the battle."

"Had I tried to take on the Nemesis by myself, I might not be here," he admitted sheepishly. "Though I was never actually in the battle."

"What? Then where have you been and where did you find all this?" demanded Ratchet gesturing to the energon.

"It's a long story," he replied. "I'm not sure I believe it myself."

Ratchet and Optimus exchanged a glance.

xxxxxx

Paige had turned over all the energon she had recovered to Cliffjumper for three things. First, she needed to find a cave big enough to hide in during the day as she was in the same situation as the Autobots. If anyone saw her, it would cause a ruckus. Plus she was much closer to the sun now so it was rather hot during the day and she needed shade. She was forced to hunch over when seated, but they managed to find a cave big enough for her to fit in. She could also use her gym bag to block the entrance and keep people out. Second, she needed access to a fresh water source and Cliffjumper located several fresh water lakes for her. She had her own water bottle with so she could fill it when necessary and she had about fifty protein bars with her so she could last that many days. Third, she needed a safe path to the ocean, as she didn't want to step on anyone. Luckily she was wearing flats instead of athletic shoes so she didn't have to worry about leaving giant shoe treads. The ocean was the only place she could wade out and bathe. Huge human equaled horrible smelling one if she didn't. She had extra strength deodorant, but she bet that wouldn't cover it and salt water was better than nothing. While she was near the ocean, she had stolen several empty shipping containers from a shipping yard to contain any waste she produced along with the wrappers for her bars. She intended to sink them far out in the ocean once they were filled.

xxxxxx

Ratchet was at the computer early in the morning when a piece of broken equipment, courtesy of Bulkhead, fell to the floor. It landed in some of the purple liquid Arcee had been covered in. The broken metal absorbed the liquid and formed into a metallic spider. The tiny robot scanned the area until it locked onto Ratchet. Ratchet turned at the noise. "By the Allspark," he exclaimed as the spider flung itself at him. He threw it off and tried to stomp on it, but it evaded him scuttling behind the computer. It made its way over to Ratchet's microscope and snapped it. "I needed that," cried Ratchet. The spider jumped, but was caught midair by Optimus' energy blast. It fell to the ground, but then began to move again. Optimus promptly stomped on it.

"And stay broken," said Ratchet. "Now what could have caused that?"

"I have a grave suspicion," said Optimus. "Dark energon."

"Dark energon, but it's supposed to be so scarce it's virtually non-existent. What would it be doing on Earth?" asked Ratchet.

"It was transported here by Megatron," said Optimus.

"For what purpose?" asked Ratchet.

"To conquer this planet by raising an army of the undead," said Optimus.

Ratchet chuckled. "Well, Megatron would have to break quite a few toaster ovens. I mean, where on this world would he find that many Cybertronian dead?"

The others returned at that moment with their charges in tow. They had been informed over the com-link that Cliffjumper was alive and unharmed.

"Where's Cliff?" asked Arcee.

"Recharge," said Ratchet.

Optimus turned. "Autobots prepare too…."

"Roll out?" asked Arcee hand on hip.

Optimus shook his head. "Remain here. Ratchet, you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be out of communications range for some time so I'm putting you in charge."

Arcee sighed. "Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing, babysitting another. Besides, Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war."

"My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing is as sharp as ever," retorted Ratchet.

Optimus sighed. "For the moment it is only reconnaissance."

Arcee frowned. "Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?"

"Arcee, much has changed in the last 24hrs and we all need to adapt. Ratchet, bridge us out."

The two of them disappeared through the groundbridge.

Ratchet and Optimus emerged from the portal into a deep canyon. Optimus went to say something, but he was cut off by the sound of a jet engine. The jet transformed landing on a high peak. The Autobots went into battle mode. Optimus tensed and brought out his cannons. Ratchet looked angry as he pulled out his sword.

Megatron stood above them. "Optimus, been well?" he asked in a cold and menacing voice. "I see you brought your trusty watchdog. I was certain that he'd be in the scrap heap by now."

"I know why you are here, Megatron," said Optimus.

"Hardly a surprise, Optimus, after all this time," he sneered. "But I'm afraid your time has come to an end." Megatron pulled out a glowing purple rock and slammed it into the ground. Purple cracks spread from the impact.

"Rise my army!" cried Megatron.

Suddenly metal monsters emerged from the ground their rusty metal bodies creaking ominously.

"By the Allspark," said Ratchet horrified.

One of the zombies lifted up a massive blade.

"Behold the power of dark energon!" cried Megatron.

The glowing purple eyes of the zombies locked onto Optimus and Ratchet.

"Megatron has desecrated the resting place of our fallen ancestors and his own," said Ratchet.

"Not even the dead are free from his war," said Optimus sadly.

"Destroy them!" roared Megatron.

Optimus stepped in front of Ratchet and opened fire. Some of the zombies fell, but more just kept coming.

"I will stand with you Optimus," said Ratchet firmly. Ratchet stepped forward and Optimus glanced over at him. "You may need a medic when this is over."

Ratchet attacked the zombie in front of him. "I recommend dissection. The smaller the pieces the better."

"Solid advice, old friend," said Optimus exchanging his guns for swords.

Suddenly a shadow darkened the area and Megatron looked over as he heard the crunch of metal. A giant figure in black with a visor made its way into the canyon crushing his zombies underfoot. It was bigger than any combiner, but wasn't giving off any Cybertronian signals.

Ratchet and Optimus were back-to-back fighting when the zombies around them were suddenly swept away. They looked up in surprise to see Megatron fleeing and a large being standing not far from them.

"Primus," said Ratchet. "Cliffjumper wasn't lying about her being tall." The giant swept the rest of the zombies onto the canyon floor and stepped on them. Ratchet cringed at the sound of crushing metal.

Paige had only come to the Grand Canyon to see if it provided a better place for her to take cover. Provided you stayed away from the tourist spots, it was a mile deep and quite steep in areas. She had not expected to see Megatron and his zombies attacking the Autobots. She remembered the episode, but not that it had occurred in the Grand Canyon. Megatron fled at the sight of her as she flattened his zombies. Their metal gave way easily under her weight. Optimus and Ratchet stood watching her with peculiar expressions. Her phone was back in her bag where she had left it so she had no means to communicate with them. She cocked her head to the side examining them for a moment and lifted her hand in a gesture of hello. She hoped they weren't too injured. She wanted to continue on with her exploration while the light held so she turned and left after making sure there were no more zombies.

Ratchet and Optimus immediately bridged back to base. All the Autobots including Cliffjumper and the kids were in the main room talking. Agent Fowler was lying unconscious on a medical bed. Ratchet and Optimus headed into the med bay. They weren't that badly damaged though thanks to Paige.

"What happened to you guys?" called Miko.

"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors," said Ratchet.

"Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it!" she exclaimed.

Arcee reported the situation with Fowler's kidnapping over the com-link to Optimus.

"Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the children to accompany you," said Optimus.

"It won't happen again Prime, I promise," Bulkhead replied.

"But it wasn't his fault," Miko argued waving her phone. "And check it out, recon."

Optimus leaned closer and looked at the photo.

"Ratchet, take a look," he said. "It could be of importance to Megatron."

"Whoa, Megatron is back," exclaimed Jack. "Isn't that like really bad?"

xxxxxx

Paige snuggled into the cave wall trying to get as comfortable as she could. She knew that if everything continued, as it should, the Autobots would face Megatron on the spacebridge. She hoped that the little she had influenced hadn't altered things too much, but she would be happy if she lessoned the Autobot's pain. Cliffjumper was with them now and Ratchet and Optimus should be less injured than before. Cliffjumper had said he'd come visit her again and she hoped he keep that promise. The Autobots had each other and the kids, but she had no one so she was a little lonely not to mention bored. She couldn't even play on her phone because she needed to conserve the battery.

Paige had also given Cliffjumper two warnings to pass on. The first had been about Mech and she hoped Fowler would take it seriously. She had also warned them about the scraplet trap in the Artic in case they didn't come to visit again.

Paige couldn't help but wonder why she was here in this world. She was very familiar with it because she had binge watched the entire series of Transformers Prime two months ago to ease her discomfort when she broke up with her boyfriend. Doing that was less fattening than eating ice cream. She had been the one to end the relationship, but it left a bitter taste in her mouth. It had been over something as simple as his cat. Her ex-boyfriend, Joel, had this beautiful purebred cat that he absolutely loved, but he didn't properly care for it. He was so busy with work that he'd sometimes only feed it once a day and cleaning the litter box seemed to be a monthly task for him. Paige was a nurturer. If a basic need needed to be filled, she would fill it. When Paige started to regularly feed, brush and care for the cat, naturally it migrated its affections to her and ignored Joel. Joel felt betrayed and harsh words were exchanged. Paige dumped him on the spot telling him that if he couldn't care for a simple cat, he wasn't qualified to have a relationship either. She didn't regret her decision because they were obviously not meant to be if such a simple thing could drive them apart. Even before the breakup, her life hadn't been anything exciting. Go to work, go to the gym and go home had been her daily routine, but being here while offering her a change also had more drawbacks than she'd first realized and being gigantic was a struggle in itself.

xxxxx

Two weeks later, the Autobots had successfully destroyed the spacebridge and Megatron's army of the undead with it. Starscream had taken over as the leader of the Decepticons in the absence of Megatron and the kids had survived Ratchet taking over their school projects.


	2. Chapter 2

Paige was out of the cave at dusk like usual stretching to get the kinks out of her back. She started heading toward the ocean. It was time for a bath and it would give her some exercise as well. Her stomach gurgled, but she had gotten used to surviving on only half the calories she needed per day so she ignored it. It wasn't like she did any exercise during most the day anyway. She'd also been about 15lbs overweight before coming here. She was sure she wouldn't be for long.

She was walking through the dark that was lit only by the stars above. She was miles away from the cave when several sets of headlights were suddenly turned on near her feet. She wasn't too worried about them seeing her feet and legs though. Her flats were black including the soles and the black leggings she was wearing mostly obscured her formerly white socks. She tried to step over the cars and keep going when something snagged on her right ankle. Suddenly a feeling of shock went through her leg and she collapsed to her knees. Now that she was closer to the ground, she could see men in all black gear including facemasks sitting and standing around the jeeps. She grimaced. It was Mech and they had found her somehow. Paige quickly reached for the wires attached to her leg and ripped them away. One of the jeeps went flying as she did this. She pushed herself to her feet and moved to leave when another wire attached to the left leg. She was shocked again and this time at a much higher setting. Paige collapsed directly onto one of the jeeps below and face planted on another. She groaned and moved to a sitting position. She felt something dripping from her nose and touched it gingerly. She looked at the blood on her fingers and shook it off at the ground. She then grabbed the wires attached to her left leg and ripped them away sending another jeep flying. She picked up the only remaining jeep and tossed it behind her. It landed on a power station box and sparks flared followed by an explosion. Paige pulled herself back to her feet and rushed away as fast as she could toward the ocean. Mech had just used a giant Taser on her and she didn't want to get shocked for the third time. Sure, she would make a good weapon against the bots, but taking her down before negotiating was not a good way to make a deal with someone. Of course, at this point Mech probably didn't know about the bots yet. If she had to guess, they had probably seen her walking on one of her trips and decided to try and capture her. She wondered if they knew she was human. With the blood she just lost, they'd probably be able to tell. She sincerely hoped they didn't know where she was staying. She pulled her handkerchief from her pocket to stem the nosebleed. No point in leaving a trail. At least her nose wasn't broken.

xxxxxx

The proximity sensor went off and Ratchet sighed.

Moments later, Agent Fowler appeared when the elevator doors opened. "Prime," called Agent Fowler loudly.

"Agent Fowler," responded Optimus walking over.

"I've got five destroyed jeeps, seven fatalities, a mile of desert covered in some strange red liquid and General Bryce breathing down my neck," he stated. "What's going on? Have the Cons returned again?"

"We are unaware of the situation," said Optimus. "All Autobots are present and accounted for."

"Well, one of those jeeps was smashed flat and the others appeared to have been thrown," said Fowler. "Who else could it be?"

"What type of liquid is it?" asked Ratchet curiously.

Fowler pulled a clear baggy with red colored sand in it out of his inner pocket and Ratchet accepted it. He immediately scanned it with a piece of equipment.

"I don't understand," said Ratchet. "This is organic fluid."

Fowler gave him a confused look.

"It's blood, human blood, Agent Fowler," explained Ratchet.

"But that's impossible," said Fowler. "It's all over the place. You wouldn't get that much even with seven bodies. What did the Cons break into a blood bank? Last time I checked no one reported anything like that missing."

Cliffjumper looked over from where he, Arcee and Bumblebee were listening. He sauntered closer. "Maybe I should check on Paige," he offered.

"The woman who supplied us information on Mech?" asked Agent Fowler. "I've been meaning to meet her. Do you think Mech was involved? Though that might explain the way the corpses were dressed."

"Cliffjumper, see if you can locate Paige," said Optimus. "Arcee, accompany him. Tell her we want to meet as soon as possible."

Cliffjumper gave Ratchet the coordinates and he bridged them out.

"Bumblebee, you're with me," said Optimus. "We'll check out the scene."

The scene was just as Fowler had described. The remains of several jeeps were scattered and crushed though the bodies had already been removed. There was a large amount of blood splashed at the scene as well as along the ground for a good distance before it disappeared. There were also broken wires some still connected to the burnt out shell of a power box.

xxxxxx

Cliffjumper and Arcee walked toward a nearby cave. Cliffjumper was leading the way.

"So, what's she like?" asked Arcee. She had heard Cliffjumper's unlikely story before, but couldn't imagine a human like Jack being bigger than Optimus. The idea was laughable.

"She's one of a kind," said Cliffjumper laughing.

"You couldn't have a met a normal human, could you," said Arcee.

"You know me. Though it was more like she found me," replied Cliffjumper. "Hey, at least I didn't bring one back to base."

They entered the cave, but were stopped by a large black wall that stretched diagonally across the inside entrance. Cliffjumper set off his car alarm and the wall was drawn back suddenly. Cliffjumper motioned for Arcee to backup and the two exited the cave. Soon enough Paige emerged on hands and knees. She stayed sitting looking at them curiously.

"Primus," said Arcee looking up.

"I told you," said Cliffjumper.

xxxxxx

Arcee bridged back to base with the coordinates for the meeting place. Optimus and Bumblebee returned soon after. Optimus, Ratchet and Fowler then bridged back out to the coordinates along with Bumblebee who was curious. Cliffjumper was waiting for them there on top of a high plateau. He was looking past them so the four turned around to see Paige causally leaning against the edge of the plateau. One arm was propping up her head and the other was holding her phone as she waited. Her sunglasses were pushed back on her head and now they could see her grey eyes.

"Sweet Lady Liberty!" exclaimed Agent Fowler.

"Primus," beeped Bumblebee in awe.

"We had the same reaction when we first saw her," said Ratchet.

Cliffjumper waved to get her attention and Paige turned her phone on.

"I've patched into her phone," said Cliffjumper. "She says that it doesn't work here, but I've accessed the text function. Her phone is pretty powerful due to its size. It's probably the reason my signal disappeared that first time. By the way, she knows who you are so introductions are unnecessary."

"Ask her about the mess in the desert?" said Agent Fowler straightening his tie nervously.

Cliffjumper sent the message and Paige typed and turned the screen toward them. It read: **Mech attacked me with a Taser twice. I tried to break free, but fell on some of the jeeps the second time. I didn't intend to hurt anyone.**

"That explains the damage and the blown energy generators," said Fowler.

"What about the blood?" asked Ratchet. "Is she injured?"

**Nosebleed. It bled a lot, but it's fine now.**

Ratchet could see that her nose was still red and inflamed.

"Did Mech do this to you?" asked Fowler gesturing to her up and down.

**I don't know. Status on Mech?**

"We acted on the information you gave us," said Agent Fowler. "Former Colonel Leland Bishop went underground and we found a mole in our own people, but that doesn't explain where they learned about you, if they didn't already know. We've already taken several of them into custody, but we're still investigating. So far we've connected Mech to over a dozen thefts all having to do with advanced technology. It's only a matter of time before we bring them down."

**Don't underestimate them. They're dangerous to all of you. They already know how to hurt me, but I'm human. Should they become aware of the Autobots, you'll be their next target.**

"We aren't afraid of humans," said Cliffjumper scoffing.

**You should be. With an alliance between Mech and the Decepticons, you and your allies could fall. The children are also at risk.**

"How do we know we can trust you?" asked Fowler. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just as big a threat."

Paige pulled something green and square from her pocket. She unfolded it revealing the largest US dollar bill Fowler had ever seen. All the watermarks were clearly evident. She placed the bill on the ground and returned to her phone. **I'm not a threat to you or the Autobots. I'm not out there destroying the planet and I'm a US citizen. I want to help protect Earth.**

"What am I going to tell General Bryce," said Agent Fowler sighing.

**Tell him it was a Mech attack. Chemical truck hijack gone wrong. Cover story: chemical spill causes red lichen bloom in the desert and block the area off. Don't tell him about me. I doubt he'll believe you anyway.**

"I got one more question," said Fowler. "How are you surviving out here?"

**I have rations for another month or so and lakes for a water source. I've been careful not to be seen.**

Fowler turned to glare at the Autobots. "She's three times your size and I haven't seen one picture yet anywhere. Maybe you all need to take a lesson in how not to be seen from her."

**Agent Fowler, I'm in need of a white board and the largest dry erase markers you can get. My phone is dying.**

"Sure, I can get that for you," he replied. Fowler needed to leave so he and Bumblebee bridged back. With Fowler gone, Optimus turned back to Paige trying to get further answers from her.

"You seem to know a lot about us," said Optimus. "Cliffjumper wouldn't have told you everything. Where have you been getting your information?"

**Inside contacts.**

"That might explain Mech," said Optimus. "But what of the Autobots?"

**Prophecies.**

"There are prophecies concerning Cybertronians on Earth?" asked Ratchet in disbelief.

**Old stories, but things are constantly changing. They're unreliable, but I thought I'd warn you anyway. Scraplet trap?**

"We received your warning, but haven't encountered it yet," said Optimus.

**Leave it in the Artic or sink it deep in the ocean. Unless they are made from metal you can use. Melt down for spare parts? Make an extra servo or something. May need it in the future.**

"Is this a warning about our future?" asked Optimus.

Paige just shrugged and averted her gaze. She then ran her free hand nervously through her short brown hair.

"Paige, how did you get here?" asked Optimus.

**I don't know.**

"You are from Earth?" asked Ratchet.

**Yes, but I'm not sure if it's this one, parallel, future maybe.**

"You're from a parallel Earth?" asked Ratchet incredulously.

**I don't know.**

"What do you know?" asked Ratchet huffing.

Paige pulled her driver's license from her pocket and displayed it. The renewal date on it put her over a decade into the future. She sighed and put it away.

**All I know is stories from the past. They will only help you so much, but I know you have neither the time nor knowledge to help me. Do right by your own, Prime. **Suddenly blood started to drip from Paige's nose. She quickly raised a blood soaked handkerchief to stop it from falling. She backed up and stood to her full height.

"I thought you said you were fine," said Ratchet.

**I will be. I believe I know more about human biology than you.**

Ratchet huffed.

Cliffjumper walked over to the edge of the plateau as Paige returned the handkerchief to her pocket. The edge, which had to bear Paige's weight until now, broke under him suddenly. Optimus rushed forward, but Paige was faster and she caught him. She placed him down gently next to his fellow Autobots.

"Thanks," sent Cliffjumper and Paige nodded.

**My phone is dying. I'm shutting it off. Good luck. **Paige put the phone in her pocket and walked away heading back toward her cave.

The three Autobots bridged back to base.

"Do you believe her?" asked Ratchet.

"I believe we can trust her," said Optimus. "Despite the warnings she delivered, she has asked for nothing in return and I don't believe she wishes us harm. Though I am concerned for her, she is no soldier and Mech may try to attack her again. Megatron also knew of her existence. Let us hope that he did not divulge that information to the others."

"You don't think Starscream would go after her, do you?" asked Ratchet.

"Starscream is anything but predictable," said Optimus.

xxxxxx

Paige had been excited to see Arcee and Bumblebee for the first time. Seeing Ratchet and Optimus again was cool too. Cartoons are one thing, but in real life the Autobots looked far more metallic and alien than she had expected. No wonder people would be afraid of them. Fowler had been so tiny it was funny. It was like looking at a human the size of those dolls in Polly Pockets. Whether they believed her or not, she hoped they'd take her warnings seriously. There were any number of theories about how she ended up here, but she wanted them to concentrate on their own problems not hers. She adjusted her position in the cave to get more comfortable. She had noticed that the cave was feeling a little roomier now. Also, her bag was at less of a diagonal across the threshold. Paige knew she was losing weight, but it appeared that both her belongings and herself were also starting to shrink. Whether she would continue to shrink until she was the proper size for this world, she didn't know. She could also possibly shrink like Ant-Man until she completely disappeared, but that would be sad. She sighed. Only time would tell.

xxxxxx

Bulkhead and Bumblebee followed the signal and located a giant frozen pod in the Artic, but they were unsure how to proceed since they both knew of Paige's warning. So they brought the pod to a more stable area and contacted Ratchet. Armed with cutting instruments and a welder, Ratchet was able to cut a small hole into the pod and out of the hole popped a scraplet.

"Ah," said Ratchet stepping back.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead jumped in fright, but the frozen scraplet didn't move. The three bridged back to base immediately.

"Paige was right," said Ratchet to Optimus from where the three were undergoing the standard defrosting procedure. "It was a scraplet trap. I shudder to think of what would have happened had we brought it back here."

"What should we do with it?" asked Optimus.

"While I'd rather just leave it where it is," said Ratchet. "Like Paige suggested, it's a source of metals stronger than those found on Earth. We might need them. I'll need access to a smelting pit though."

"I will speak with Agent Fowler," said Optimus.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a couple of weeks since Paige had last seen the Autobots. She couldn't remember the exact order of the episodes, but she knew that Wheeljack and Airachnid would make an appearance soon and that Megatron would return. She didn't have a way to contact the base so she couldn't warn them about any of it. She wasn't sure she should interfere anyway considering the final outcome of the series. She also still hadn't received her white board and markers, but figured that since she hadn't seen anyone it was pointless anyway as there was no one to talk to. She was acutely aware that she was shrinking, but it wasn't at that fast a rate. Her bag still fit snuggly across the mouth of the cave, but she noticed that it now took her a little longer to reach the ocean. She had maybe two weeks of food left before she became desperate. When that happened, she would have to leave the area and start looking for food. She could only wish that she had a way to contact Fowler, but no matter how great the need for food, she wouldn't allow herself to go to the Autobot's base. That would immediately compromise their position and there was no way she'd voluntarily put them in danger.

xxxxxx

"And it was written in the covenant of Prime, that when the 47 spheres aligned, a perpetual conflict will culminate on a world forged from chaos and the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness," read Optimus.

"No sky raining fire?" asked Arcee.

"Goes without saying, it is a doom prophecy," said Ratchet.

"Sounds like a load of hooey," interjected Bulkhead.

"I always assumed that the ancients were referring to our home planet, but being that Cybertron's been dark for eons," said Ratchet.

"And considering what has befallen this planet since Megatron's arrival here," said Optimus.

"We've known about these superstitions for ages and never given them a second thought," said Cliffjumper.

"Why now?" added Bulkhead.

"Because the planetary alignment to which the prophecy refers is nearly upon us and it would seem its end point is Earth," said Optimus.

"How long we talking?" asked Arcee.

"A few days at most," replied Ratchet.

"However unsettling, I'm more concerned about those who might believe that the prophecy speaks to them alone," said Optimus.

xxxxxx

Paige was out far earlier than normal. Darkness had not yet fallen and she was headed back from collecting fresh water. She enjoyed the feeling of the warmth from the setting sun on her skin. Overhead she heard the sound of a jet and looked up to see the familiar alien form of Megatron in the distance. She grimaced and moved closer to the plateaus, but he hadn't seen her yet for he was focused on something on the nearby road. Her eyes scanned the road when she caught sight of a familiar yellow car. Oh no you don't, thought Paige starting to run.

Ratchet had just commed Bumblebee for backup.

"It's okay Bee," said Raf holding his remote control car. "We can race some other time."

Megatron's jet form roared above and he began to fire. Bumblebee swerved trying to avoid the shots. Megatron fired again, but the shots were intercepted by a large metal water bottle. The resulting surge rippled over the bottle zapping the hand that held it. Paige yelped, dropping the bottle, but catching it with her other hand. Her left hand had the sensation of pins and needles and it immediately started to ache. Megatron growled in anger. This giant fleshy had gotten in his way once again. He fired off a few more shots, which Paige barely managed to avoid and flew off. He had more important business to attend to.

Paige glanced at Bumblebee who had transformed with Raf in his hands. Raf was unconscious. Paige hissed in exasperation. A shot must have gotten through. Sorry buddy, I tried, she thought. She went to her knees and carefully picked them up so they were level with her face. In a soft quiet voice she said, "Tell Ratchet that only regular energon can counteract dark energon, but watch the dose because energon is toxic to humans. Understand?"

Bumblebee beeped.

"Hold on," said Paige cradling them. She used her injured hand to block the wind as she began to run in the direction Megatron had gone. They soon arrived at the military base where the Autobots were fighting off the Decepticons. She carefully set Bumblebee down and he went to join the others. She purposely stepped on a few of the Cons that looked like they might get back up. The groundbridge opened behind the Autobots and all but Bulkhead and Optimus went through. The Nemesis arrived hovering over Megatron and Paige wandered closer purposely- distracting Megatron from the Autobots for a moment. When he turned back, the groundbridge portal had closed and the Autobots had retreated or so he thought. Paige retreated quickly as Megatron returned to his ship. She could see Optimus and Bulkhead clinging to the side of the Nemesis and she knew what came next. She turned and headed away from the base cradling her left hand with her right. Three of the five fingers on her left hand were numb and unresponsive. She was sincerely hoping that she could fight off the effects of the small amount of dark energon that she'd absorbed because she wasn't small enough to fit in the Autobot's base for treatment. She was depressed that she'd gotten the injury while still failing to protect Raf. If she could have saved him, then at least it would have been worth it. She was nearly to the cave when a wave of nausea hit her. She threw up twice, but there was nothing in her stomach but water right now. Shakily she wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow and sat down for a while to regain some strength. Tonight was going to be a long night.

xxxxxx

June Darby was driving Raf home after he'd recovered from the dark energon exposure.

"1, 1000, 2, 1000," said Raf.

"Are you okay back there?" asked June glancing in the rearview mirror.

"I saw lightning. I'm counting until." Suddenly thunder rumbled cutting him off.

"Looks like a storm," said June. "My garden will love it."

Suddenly lightning struck the road in front of them and June swerved trying to avoid it and stay on the road. She came to a stop breathing heavily. "Raf, are you okay?" asked June.

"I'm okay," he replied.

Up ahead, June could see a massive tornado in the distance. She quickly turned the car in the opposite direction, but the pull of the vortex was too strong. To her horror the car started to lift when suddenly Bumblebee appeared and grabbed the car as it went airborne. The pull was still too great and he gripped a nearby power pole for leverage. He beeped a messaged.

"He wants us to get into his hand," said Raf climbing out the window. June followed suit.

The power pole Bumblebee was gripping was suddenly sucked up by the tornado. Bumblebee started to get dragged forward with the car. Suddenly a hand gripped him around his waist anchoring him. Bumblebee didn't have to turn around to see who it was. He had Raf secured, but June was still on the hood when the rest of the car ripped free. Bumblebee and Raf thought they had lost her for a moment until she appeared gripping on the underside of the hood. Once he had a hold of her, Bumblebee transformed letting them inside while Paige knelt to block the wind. Bumblebee noticed that Paige's hair whipped wildly around her pale face and she was cradling her left arm close to her chest. She quickly picked his vehicle form up and moved them further away from the tornado. After placing them back on the ground, she nodded her head for them to take off.

"Thank you," said June to Bumblebee and he beeped in reply.

"He says you're welcome," said Raf.

"Bee, who was that?" asked Raf looking out the back window at the giant disappearing into the storm.

Bumblebee beeped his reply.

"A friend. She's human and her name is Paige," Raf repeated for the benefit of June.

"She's human," said June. "How can that be?"

Raf just shrugged.

xxxxxx

The wind felt good to Paige as she headed toward the ocean. With the weather as bad as it was no one would be out to see her. She had a high fever. It was her bodies way of fighting off the dark energon in her system and she knew that going into the cold ocean water might be a good way to lower it. She knew she had no place in the fight against Unicron. Only Optimus and the Matrix could take him down with unfortunately the assistance of Megatron. It wasn't ideal for her to be out right now. With her height, she was risking becoming a lightning rod, but she didn't want to remain in the cave in case Unicron tried to get rid of the parasites that lived on what he considered his planet. Paige was nearing the ocean when she heard rumbling from the nearby ground. Up out of the ground rose an avatar of Unicron. Why, she thought and then she glanced at her numb hand. She realized with a sickening feeling that he might be able to sense her because of the dark energon she was contaminated with. The avatar was only half her size so Paige brought it down quickly with a kick. "I may have been born from chaos, but it was not your chaos," she yelled. "Go back to the pit you came from!"

Several more avatars formed and they were bigger than the last. Lethal looking pike weapons were in their hands. Paige glanced around quickly spotting a shipping container yard. She started to run. She was definitely in need of a weapon.

Hours later the last of the avatars crumbled. Broken shipping containers lay scattered on the ground and Paige sat down sighing in relief. Optimus must have come through. She had avoided any severe injuries, but she had a few small cuts and a ton of bruises. The cartoon had made it look effortless, but she had to remember that the Autobots were made of metal and covered in armor even if they were smaller. Even the avatar that had been bigger than her had been relatively easy to beat. She was faster and more flexible so throwing it off balance wasn't hard. What was hard was trying to break a being made of earth and stone. That had resulted in most of her injuries. Paige sighed in exhaustion. She still felt sick and man did she hate Unicron right now. He was the singular cause of all her current problems. She pushed herself to her feet and retrieved her dented water bottle. At least it wasn't broken and it had come in handy again. She looked toward the ocean. First she needed a bath and then she'd have to face the long hike back to the cave. She felt fleeting sympathy for what the Autobots were enduring now, but her own worries overshadowed it. She swore as she waded into the water her cuts burning from the salt.

xxxxxx

Back with the Autobots, Jack restored Optimus' memories and Optimus returned to his rightful place as leader. In all the commotion Paige's presence was forgotten.


	4. Chapter 4

Two weeks later, Paige was officially out of food. She lifted a large fishing net she had taken from the nearby docks and waded out to the shark line where most of the sharks in the area gathered to feed. The net was full as she dragged them toward the shore. She didn't bother to cook the fish, but she did let them die before she ate them. She didn't want to feel them swimming in her stomach. She used her metal nail file to cut off the heads of the sharks and tossed them back into the ocean. She didn't want to risk passing all those teeth through her digestive system. It was a temporary stopgap for the time being, but she knew she needed to hunt down an Autobot so she could get in touch with Fowler. She'd rather not face off against the military by just showing up at one of their bases and she wasn't sure which base Fowler was usually at.

xxxxxx

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were out patrolling in opposite directions when they picked up a signal. Bumblebee commed Bulkhead.

"I just picked up the same signal, let's rendezvous at those coordinates," said Bulkhead.

Bumblebee was quicker and located the beacon first. He approached it when suddenly he was hit by an energy blast from behind and he fell to the ground in stasis.

"Silas, another one is headed this way," said a Mech operative. "Two minutes."

"Work quickly," said Silas.

From above, Starscream landed and observed. "It would appear the signal was a trap," he mused to himself. "Better Bumblebee than me."

Mech had started cutting when a shadow overtook them and their and Starscream's attention was drawn to the rapidly approaching figure. Silas growled and Mech abandoned their goal pulling back and aiming their weapons, but Paige was too fast for them. In one step she had scooped up Bumblebee and in the next she was already gone.

Paige had stumbled across the scene by accident, but she was relieved that she had found an Autobot so easily. With Bumblebee cradled in her left arm she continued to run past Mech avoiding most of their shots. The shots that got through were like insect bites on her legs. Bulkhead was driving toward her and she scooped him up in his vehicle form much to his surprise. She ran for several miles before gently placing them both on the ground. Bulkhead transformed and Bumblebee started to come back online. Paige knelt on the ground her chin resting on her raised right knee. She breathed in deeply trying to catch her breath. Exercise on little food was difficult. "The beacon was a Mech trap," she told Bulkhead in a quiet voice. "They're trying to create one of you. They wanted Bumblebee's T-cog. Warn the others. Mech won't give up until they get one. You didn't see him, but Starscream was there too. It's likely that he'll team up with them."

"There's no way Starscream would team up with humans," called Bulkhead.

"He would if he's desperate," said Paige. "Speaking of desperate, I need you to tell Agent Fowler that I need protein powder in quantity if he doesn't want to deal with a 100ft corpse. Vitamin powder would work as an addition, but protein is essential. I need it soon. I'm out of rations. You should take Bumblebee back to get checked out by the Doc."

Bumblebee returned to his feet still slightly disorientated. Bulkhead called for a bridge and the two disappeared into it.

At base, Ratchet examined Bumblebee while Bulkhead explained what had happened. Raf hovered at the railing looking worried.

"Optimus, there is some damage in the area around Bumblebee's T-cog," said Ratchet. "It does appear that Mech was trying to remove it."

"It was fortunate that Paige was there to intervene," replied Optimus.

"Yea, but you don't actually think Starscream is helping them, do you?" asked Bulkhead.

"I believe Starscream would only form an alliance with Mech if there was an advantage he could gain from them," said Optimus. "So I would not rule the idea out."

Bumblebee beeped.

"Right," said Bulkhead. "Paige said she needed to get in touch with Fowler. The kid is out of rations. What did she say she needed?"

Bumblebee answered.

"How is her condition?" asked Ratchet looking up from his work.

"I couldn't say," said Bulkhead. "This was the first time I've seen her."

"Perhaps we should check on her," said Optimus looking at Ratchet. "Neglecting an ally is never a good idea."

"Be that as it may," said Ratchet. "I recall her specifically telling you to take care of your own. I suspect that she has her own agenda, but I do agree that I am concerned about her health."

Suddenly an alarm went off.

"Augh," said Miko covering her ears. "What is it?"

"Another beacon has been activated," said Optimus.

Bulkhead, Cliffjumper, Arcee and Optimus went through the groundbridge, while Bumblebee remained with Ratchet as he finished fixing the damage to his chassis.

Ratchet retreated to the back to look for parts for a project he was doing when Fowler called with news that the coordinates for the central headquarters of Mech had been found by satellite. Bumblebee answered his call and Raf translated for him. Bumblebee then bridged out to the coordinates ready for some payback.

xxxxxx

That evening as Paige prepared to leave the cave and head to the ocean. She pulled her bag from the entrance when blinding light shone up at her. She pulled her bag close to her on reflex and swore. It was Mech. Suddenly an explosion rocked the mouth of the cave and she and her bag were pelted with rocks. Paige coughed at the dust that was kicked up. The light of the moon was now completely blocked leaving the cave in pitch darkness.

"Target contained," said one of the Mech agents.

Paige pushed against the new rock wall that had formed at the mouth of the cave pushing the rocks out of her way as they cascaded into a pile outside the cave. With the opening wide enough, she swiftly hefted the bag and threw it as far out as she could. She then dove out of the cave rolling in a somersault once she hit the ground. She could feel pain as she rolled so she knew that Mech had set a trap for her outside as well, but her momentum carried her past it and she shakily regained her feet and started to run. She claimed her bag as she ran by. Mech had found her. How had they found her? She could only wonder. A tracking device came to mind. If that was the case, then it could be on her or on her bag. She glanced back to see headlights following her. Her gym bag was nearly empty, but was shredded on one side due to the blast. All she had in it now was her purse, a towel, her water bottle and a small first aid kit. She pulled everything out hastily stuffing whatever would fit into her purse and slinging the purse over her shoulder. She stuck her water bottle under her armpit. She turned and threw the empty gym bag at the approaching cars trapping them momentarily.

"I want the machine that created her," said Silas over the radio. "She's caused enough trouble for us. If we can't get what we want from her, then take her down."

Paige turned in the direction opposite of the ocean trying to mislead them and she seemed to have lost them for the moment. She had cuts on her hands from shielding herself from the blast. She bandaged those and then pulled off her black waterproof jacket. She ran her hands over the material, but didn't feel anything amiss so she put the jacket back on. She ran a hand over her leggings, but there wasn't anything sharp or hard sticking out of the material. She then pulled off each shoe. She found something black and metal sticking into one of them so she pulled it out and placed it on top of a high plateau. She changed directions again hoping to throw them off. She heard a helicopter approaching the plateau as she left and ducked down behind a taller plateau as she continued on. Paige rounded another corner and paused to catch her breath. She leaned up against a plateau that was about chest high and looked around. She thought she was in the clear when a missile was fired at her from close range. She instinctually brought her left arm up to block it and the blast singed the material burning her jacket in the process. Her right hand came up in reflex to pat out the flame and Starscream used the moment to dig his long sharp free hand into her chest aiming for her spark or whatever humans had. Paige jerked back swinging her water bottle, which sent Starscream sailing off the plateau. She took off again only pausing once to check her chest and arm. Her arm was slightly red, but no worse the wear. Starscream had actually drawn blood though on her chest. There were three small scratches on her chest between her breasts. Luckily the extra padding in her sports bra had prevented him from doing worse damage. The transformers were now about knee level with her so she knew she would have to take extra precautions in the future, otherwise they might be able to hurt her worse. She turned and headed for the ocean cautiously. She needed food; a bath and then she would head for the Grand Canyon.


	5. Chapter 5

Cliffjumper and Bumblebee returned to base after attempting to visit Paige at her cave. Optimus turned to them expectantly.

"We were too late. She's gone," beeped Bumblebee.

"What do you mean she's gone?" asked Ratchet.

"The cave where she was staying was destroyed," said Cliffjumper frowning. "It looked like explosives. There wasn't any blood though so she may still be okay. We found tire tracks and wire lines so it might have been Mech."

"There was no evidence of a fight so I don't think they got her," beeped Bumblebee. "I'd like to get my hands on Mech though."

"If Mech is indeed after Paige, we will need to find her for her safety," said Optimus. "Cliffjumper, do you have any idea where she might have gone?"

"I mostly showed her the location of fresh water lakes and a path to the ocean," said Cliffjumper thinking. "None of those are suitable places to hide though."

"Optimus, what about where we first saw her?" said Ratchet. "She could easily hide there."

"Ratchet, open a groundbridge. You two are with me," said Optimus.

xxxxxx

Optimus, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper bridged into the middle of the Grand Canyon. They'd only gone about a mile when they encountered Paige. She blended in well with the shadows cast by an outcropping from the wall. None of them had seen her until she moved in response to Bumblebee accidently sending several large rocks tumbling. Paige was sitting as far back against the wall as she could with her hands lightly clasped over her pulled in knees.

Paige turned her head in alarm when she heard noise. She fervently hoped it wasn't Mech. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Optimus. Optimus made his way up onto a large boulder adjacent to the recess where she was sitting.

"Paige," said Optimus. "We are glad to have found you."

Paige nodded her acknowledgement, but remained silent.

"I have reason to believe that you are currently in danger," said Optimus. "I would prefer if you returned with us to the base. We can call for a groundbridge if you agree."

"Do you think I'll fit?" asked Paige. "I suppose I could if I crawled, but I wouldn't want to damage your groundbridge."

"Ratchet has reassured me that it will be fine," said Optimus.

"I'll go, but I need you to scan me for tracking devices first," said Paige.

xxxxxx

Ratchet received the comm and then told everyone in the control room to back up. All the kids were on the second level and the other bots moved away from the groundbridge. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper came through first followed by Optimus. Paige on her hands and knees came through after. She carefully moved away from the groundbridge before pulling herself to her feet. She looked up at the ceiling that stretched above her. This place was bigger than she'd imagined though she would probably be limited to only this room. She noticed that Optimus' height now reached mid-thigh on her, but she was still over twice his size. The kids as well as some of the Autobots just stared up at her in awe. Paige carefully moved closer to the wall out of the way of both the entrance to the base and the groundbridge and sunk down bringing her closer to Optimus' height. She placed her water bottle and purse on the floor next to her. She could hear some noise from the kids, but couldn't make out what they were saying. At least she could understand the bots now.

"Whoa," exclaimed Miko. "Who is she? She's huge! Did a relic zap her? Where did you find her?"

"That's Paige," said Raf.

"Wait, you knew about her and you didn't tell me," accused Miko.

"I only saw her when Bee was rescuing us from the tornado," said Raf. "I forgot."

"Why is she here?" asked Jack.

"For her protection, Mech is hunting her," said Cliffjumper.

Ratchet had stepped over to Paige. "What is your condition?" he asked.

"I'm surviving," she replied dismissively. "Whatever happened to me seems to be reversing itself. I'm shrinking."

"That's true," said Cliffjumper. "I nearly reach her knee now, but before I was way below it."

"That's good news, isn't it?" said Bulkhead.

"Better for my needs, but I won't be as resilient to damage," said Paige shrugging.

"May I ask what happened to your face?" asked Optimus.

Paige reached her right hand up to gingerly touch the bruises that had only started to fade. "I had a run in with several avatars of Unicron, but I came out with mostly bruises."

"Why would Unicron attack her?" asked Arcee. "She doesn't give off any signals and he was more focused on Optimus and the Matrix."

"Maybe because I became infected with dark energon when Megatron shot me," said Paige.

Ratchet's attention riveted to her. "You were infected with dark energon. How are you still alive?"

"I was indirectly hit in the left hand," said Paige raising her hand. "I was sick for awhile, but it wasn't enough to kill me. I think I have nerve damage though. Three of the fingers and part of my hand is numb. I can barely move them."

"You were the one that gave us the information about combatting dark energon with regular energon," yelled Ratchet angrily. "Why didn't you come to us for help?"

"You would have figured out that information on your own," said Paige. "And I didn't have a way to contact you. Besides, Unicron is obviously gone so you must have been busy."

Ratchet was seething, but Optimus put a hand on his shoulder to placate him.

"Where did your information about Unicron come from?" asked Optimus.

"Old stories," said Paige. "Unicron is a big theme in some of them. It figures that he'd make an appearance."

"What happened with Mech?" asked Optimus.

"Those." Paige stopped momentarily halting the swear word that threatened to leave her lips. She glanced over remembering that there were children here. "They jumped me last night," said Paige starting again. "Blew up the cave entrance to block me in, but I got out. I ran for it, but they had a tracker on me so I planted a false trail in one direction and ran in another after ditching it. Then I ran into Starscream. I think he's working with them. He tried to take me out, but I punted him like a baseball and fled."

Several of the bots snickered at that.

"I would prefer for the time being that you remain here for your safety," said Optimus.

"That's fine provided I can leave periodically through the groundbridge," said Paige. "Also, did Agent Fowler send what I needed?"

"He did," said Optimus gesturing to where a pallet of boxes was stacked. Behind them was a white board.

"That's why we were out looking for you," added Cliffjumper.

"I appreciate it," said Paige. "You can give the kids the whiteboard though. If they want to talk to me, they'll have to write. I can understand you, but I still can't make out what their saying. My ears are not that good."

"We should be so lucky," muttered Ratchet.

"Optimus," said Paige. "You still have time, but I recommend moving to another base. Megatron isn't stupid and Soundwave has already seen the children. If they find out their identities, it wouldn't be long before they could approximate the location of your base. You should tell Fowler to put their families in witness protection as well."

"I will consider it," said Optimus.

"What other injuries have you sustained?" said Ratchet not giving up.

Paige sighed. "Cuts on my fingers, a superficial burn on one arm and both legs among the bruises. Oh and a small set of scratches on my chest. That idiot Starscream thought he could rip out my spark, but my clothes protected me. He probably knows as much about human anatomy as you do."

Ratchet huffed.

"Listen Ratchet, I appreciate the concern, but I've already taken care of my injuries. I have a first aid kit with me and it's my size. The rest will heal on their own," explained Paige. "It's pointless to worry for me because none of what happened is your responsibility." She smiled at him trying to reassure him, but he still seemed slightly put off.


	6. Chapter 6

Paige had been dozing in the corner legs stretched out when she heard the sound of an alarm going off. She listened as Fowler yelled over the com-link about two bots mixing it up. She caught sight of the Autobots leaving after saying something about a Skyquake look alike and Wheeljack. This apparently was Dreadwing's appearance. She drifted back off until she heard them return. She opened her eyes to see Wheeljack looking at her curiously.

"I didn't think the natives on this planet got that big," he said raising an eye ridge.

"Ah, no, that's Paige," said Bulkhead chuckling. "She's kind of unique."

Paige didn't bother to get up since Ratchet was pulling Wheeljack into the med bay.

Later that day, she asked Ratchet to send her to a deserted island they had located for her use so she could take care of her needs. It had a source of fresh water and there were even some bananas growing on the trees which she ate sparingly skin and all. Paige spent two days there until Ratchet sent Bumblebee to bring her back. She was surprised that they hadn't just dumped her here permanently. She wasn't simply taking a vacation on the island though. Without the eyes of the Autobots on her, she had cut up half her towel and was using the small sowing kit in her purse to make two gloves and a scarf for her face. She had also taken a small tarp that Bumblebee had pulled out of storage for her and was fashioning it into a giant grocery bag. These things would be needed for what was to come.

xxxxxx

Paige was curled up asleep on the floor when she felt someone touch her. She bolted upright arms swinging out. She heard a yelp and something heavy landed in her lap. Paige's vision came into focus to see Ratchet comically lying on his back in her lap.

"Ratchet, a little advice especially about human females, we don't like waking up with someone we didn't invite to our bed. If you wanted to sleep with me, you could have at least asked."

Ratchet sputtered. "I intended no such thing. I merely wanted to examine your left hand."

"Do that when I'm awake," said Paige dryly.

"You were reluctant to tell me of your injuries before so I didn't think you'd allow it," said Ratchet.

"At this point I don't believe there is anything you can do, but I would have allowed it if you insisted," said Paige putting him back on his feet. She leaned back on her elbows. "It's nothing personal against you, but I'm not really comfortable with doctors. My parents believed that if you weren't dying, you didn't need a doctor."

"If you need one before you get small enough, I'm the only one who can do anything," he pointed out.

"You may be more my size," said Paige. "But you're not really trained for organics."

He glared at her.

"Look, I get it I really do. It's human biology that you can see without having to look through a microscope, but I think there might be more important things that you can doing with your time than bothering with me."

"Is everything alright?" asked Optimus coming into the room.

"In my defense," said Paige. "Ratchet got into my personal space first and I was sleeping."

"Everything is fine," said Ratchet huffing. "Since you're awake now, let me see your hand."

Paige sighed and extended her left hand while answering Ratchet's questions about it and any other injury he brought up until he was satisfied.


	7. Chapter 7

It was dark and Agent Fowler was headed home from the military base. He turned on the music and was humming along when high beams lit up his car. There was a truck behind him. He waved his arm out the window telling the truck to go around, but the truck instead slammed into the back of his car. His car spun around and Fowler squinted in the bright light of the high beams. That's when he saw the Autobot symbol on the truck. He gunned his car, turning it and headed off with the truck in hot pursuit. He contacted the base as he drove. "Prime," he called. "Do you read me?"

The kids were racing cars with their guardians cheering when the call came in.

"I'm sorry Agent Fowler. I'm afraid Optimus isn't here at the moment," said Ratchet.

"I'll take that as confirmation that he's currently trying to run me off the road," retorted Fowler.

"That hardly seems likely," said Ratchet.

"Tell that to my burning treads," said Fowler.

The Autobots quickly bridged out to Fowler's position.

The truck smashed into Fowler's car causing it to slide into the side of the bridge. The guardrail gave way and the truck started to push the car over the edge. Bumblebee transformed and caught the car by the bumper. The truck turned and fled.

"Looks like Optimus," said Bulkhead.

"Primes don't run," said Arcee. She transformed and took off after the truck.

The bumper separated from the car causing Fowler to plunge toward the ground. Bulkhead jumped down to the canyon floor to catch Fowler's car before it hit.

"You all right in there?" he asked.

Fowler went to respond when his airbag went off.

Arcee tracked the truck, but was suddenly blindsided and knocked out.

Back at base, everyone gathered around.

"Yes, that's it. Follow the light," said Ratchet hovering over Arcee.

Arcee jumped as she woke. "Not the best choice of words Ratchet."

"Are you all right?" asked Jack in concern.

Arcee answered that she was fine except for being blindsided by Optimus.

"This is absurd," said Ratchet looking at the monitor. "I'm sure he wasn't anyway near there. Optimus' signal indicates that he's due to arrive at any moment."

Optimus entered the base and he could tell that something was amiss. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"We were wondering where you've been?" asked Arcee.

"We couldn't get ahold of you," said Bulkhead.

Optimus started to reach for something and the others brought out their weapons. "I was in a subterranean energon deposit outside of communication range," he replied displaying the energon crystal.

Everyone disengaged their weapons.

"Sorry," said Arcee.

"Don't blame them Prime. I was attacked on the highway earlier by a big rig one that bore a striking resemblance to you," said Agent Fowler.

"You do remember what Mech was trying to build," called Paige from where she sat.

"You think this is Mech?" asked Ratchet turning to her.

"You don't?" asked Paige. "Unless the Cons have another bot that can disguise themselves as Optimus, it would have to be them."

"Those butchers cracked the code," said Ratchet with disgust.

"We are aware that Mech obtained Starscream's T-cog," said Optimus.

"Where it scanned an appropriate vehicle form," said Ratchet.

"Fill the tank with energon," added Jack.

"And say hello to Nemesis Prime," said Miko dramatically.

Fowler's phone rang and he took the call. "I can tell you just as I'm sure that I have 50 stars on my star spangled shorts that Optimus is right here." He looked up at Optimus. "Alden military base is currently under attack by Optimus Prime."

"The truck?" asked Jack.

"The bot," said Fowler.

xxxxxx

Optimus and the others bridged out to fight Nemesis Prime, but returned fairly quickly. Fowler apologized that the military was now gunning for him, but Optimus understood. They all went out on patrol in vehicle form to see if they could hunt him down.

"If I can isolate the control frequency of the remote link that Silas is employing, I might be able to pinpoint his exact location," said Ratchet.

"Remote link?" asked Raf.

"You didn't think Mech possessed the ability to build a completely autonomous robot, did you?" retorted Ratchet. "Ah ha. Frequency isolated."

"Then reopen that bridge," said Fowler.

"Agent Fowler, did you not hear Optimus advise against your involvement. It's for your own safety," said Ratchet.

"Look Doc, I don't plan on dancing with any bots, but there's a human element in play and in case you haven't noticed I'm a highly trained government grade human," he replied.

"And so am I," came Paige's voice from behind. "Or close enough."

Ratchet turned around to face her in surprise.

xxxxxx

The bridge opened and both Fowler and Paige emerged.

"Augh, I think I lost the lunch I ate in flight school," said Fowler.

His phone rang and Ratchet told him that the signal was 100 yards north.

"Good Luck," said Paige slipping away.

She could see Optimus fighting Nemesis Prime in the distance, which meant that the other Autobots were already down. She silently crept around the buildings grabbing and disarming Mech agents as she went. She dropped them all into the back of an empty dump truck and covered the top with metal fencing she ripped free from the ground. She didn't see any others so she headed back around the buildings to find the Autobots. She managed to rouse Cliffjumper and he held an unconscious Arcee while she held Bumblebee and Bulkhead.

"Geez, I didn't know Bulkhead weighed so much," Paige complained. "Cliffjumper, can you call Ratchet for a bridge?"

The portal appeared as the sound of helicopters got closer. Cliffjumper and Paige turned when they heard footsteps to see Optimus approaching from behind. They all returned to base leaving Fowler to handle the rest.

"The question remains if Mech will continue to operate without their leader," said Optimus.

"Well, here's the kicker," said Fowler on the screen. "We sifted through the wreckage with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find any sign of Silas."

Optimus frowned.

"Unfortunately, we'll be seeing him again," said Paige softly to herself unaware that Optimus had heard her. Paige had settled herself on the ground again, but when she looked up Optimus was right in front of her and he didn't look happy. His height was close to waist high now so when she sat down he towered over her. "Did you need something sir?" asked Paige.

"It was unwise of you to accompany Agent Fowler to Mech's headquarters," he said. "Agent Fowler is at least a trained agent who understands the risks, but you are not."

"I was simply providing backup for Agent Fowler," said Paige. "I didn't go with the intention of fighting. I may be taller than you, but I've no armor or weapons. That hasn't escaped my notice."

"Regardless, you should refrain from entering combat areas," said Optimus. "I do not wish for you to be further harmed."

"I understand," said Paige. "And if I become a problem for you, anytime you want me gone I'll leave. With Mech down, I should mostly be in the clear."

She could tell by the look on Optimus' face that he didn't agree.


	8. Chapter 8

Paige woke up feeling bad, well worse than usual. Her throat felt scratchy, she was warm, her body ached and she could feel a headache brewing from the sinus pressure. She had dropped so much weight that she was no longer having her period so she knew she was simply ill.

Ratchet was at the computer working on something when she approached from behind. "Ratchet," Paige rasped in a scratchy voice.

Ratchet turned to face her. "What's wrong with your voice?" he asked.

"I'm ill," said Paige. "I don't want to infect the kids so I need you to send me to the island for around three days."

Ratchet gripped her arm. "You're warm," he said. "I mean warmer than usual. Is there a cure for this illness?"

"It's a virus," said Paige. "My immune system will fight it off, but it'll take awhile." She scrubbed at her watery eyes and two tears slid down her cheek.

"Geez Doc, what'd you say to make her cry?" asked Cliffjumper. He and Optimus had just walked in.

"I didn't say anything," Ratchet retorted crossing his arms. "She is simply ill."

"I'll get my things," said Paige leaving.

Ratchet opened the groundbridge and Paige went through just as the kids arrived for the day.

"What's wrong with her Ratchet?" asked Optimus.

"She claims she has a virus and that it will take about three days for her to recover," explained Ratchet.

"Who's got a virus?" called Miko.

"Paige," responded Ratchet.

"I bet it's the flu," said Jack. "All three of us already had it. I wonder if she caught it from us."

"It's not surprising she'd get sick though," said Raf.

"Rafael, what do you mean by that?" asked Optimus.

"Well for humans, there are several things that can lower your immune system and make you get sick easier," Raf explained. "One of them is stress, another is not eating the right foods and finally there's a lack of sleep."

"She's bigger than any other human and has had run ins with Mech and the Cons so she's got to be stressed," said Jack.

"She's surviving on mostly protein powder which isn't healthy," said Raf. "And she sleeps on the floor which is uncomfortable for humans so I don't know how much sleep she gets."

"Yea and it's not like you guys are quiet. There's always one alarm or another going off in here," added Miko.

"Once she reaches normal human size, this shouldn't be a problem," said Ratchet.

"If she makes it," said Miko thoughtlessly.

Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a worried glance.

"I will make a point to check on her tomorrow," said Ratchet.

xxxxxx

Ratchet located Paige lying on her back in the sand in the shade of the palm trees. She didn't stir as he approached, but her chest rose and fell with her breathing. Her supplies were scattered nearby and her water bottle was next to her. Ratchet knelt and placed a hand on her forehead. She was still warm, but not as warm as the previous day. Her fever seemed to be subsiding. Grey eyes opened in slits at his touch meeting his optics. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Paige groaned in response. She closed her eyes and then opened them again trying to focus. "You have such pretty optics," she said gazing at him.

Ratchet paused taken aback by the unexpected compliment. "I read up a little on the flu," he said. "And you appear to be delirious or are all you humans just really vain?"

"With our life span, if you don't appreciate what you find beautiful, what's the point in living," she replied her eyes closing again.

Ratchet stayed with her for a while longer before returning to base.

xxxxxx

It took Paige an entire week to feel good enough to return. When she did, she was bridged back to base right in the middle of a unique situation. Team Prime with the exception of Ratchet were frozen in position by what she assumed was the immobilizer. Fowler, Ratchet and the kids were making plans to infiltrate the Nemesis in order to get the Iacon database. She would have joined, but she was a little too big and the ship would most likely see her immediately. All she could do was relieve the kids of a dazed Fowler when he returned and place him on the hospital bed while Ratchet returned with Jack and the flash drive.


	9. Chapter 9

The Nemesis had managed to decipher four sets of coordinates for the relics. Arcee, Bumblebee, Jack and Miko headed to New York to look for the phase shifter while Optimus and Cliffjumper were going to Antarctica in search of the Apex armor. It was Paige that suggested Optimus might need some backup, which prompted Cliffjumper to volunteer. Ratchet reluctantly contacted Wheeljack to go after the Resonance Blaster with him. Bulkhead was going by himself to a volcanic island, but Paige implored Optimus to let her go with.

"I'll be another set of hands," said Paige adamantly. "I'm already prepared and I know where the relic is and what it is. I won't engage the enemy I promise. You need to let me go. It's important and there isn't time to argue."

Optimus reluctantly let her go telling Bulkhead to be very cautious.

It was immensely hot when they arrived on the volcano and Paige made sure to avoid the venting steam as she immediately headed downward. She already had her sunglasses and her padded towel gloves on while the towel scarf was wrapped over her nose and mouth. The tarp bag she had made was also slung over her shoulder. "The relic got swept downstream by an old lava flow," she said. "So it won't be where the coordinates said it was."

"If you say so," said Bulkhead.

On their way down they encountered the Insecticon Hardshell and Bulkhead exchanged blows with him, while Paige ran further down the volcano to safety. Bulkhead dealt some damage to Hardshell, but was damaged himself and leaking energon as he went after Paige. They quickly found the relic and Bulkhead physically recoiled. It was Tox-en.

"We need to destroy it," said Paige. "I know you're injured, but do you think you can make it up to the top of the volcano?"

"Sure," said Bulkhead. He watched in amazement as Paige picked up the Tox-en and dropped it into her bag like she'd just gone shopping. He stepped closer to the container to see a small section left. "Let's leave those Insecticons a present," he said.

Paige picked up the smaller piece while Bulkhead set the grenade and she placed it back on top. "Let's go," said Paige running back up toward the top of the volcano. The steeper the slope got the slower she went. Her breathing was coming in deep gasping pants. She quickly stopped and tied the bag shut. She pulled off her jacket leaving her in only her sports bra, which was soaked with sweat. She tied the jacket around the bag for extra protection and then handed it and her gloves to Bulkhead. "You're faster than me and I have to be more careful around the steam and lava. Can you get it up there and destroy it?"

"You can count on me," said Bulkhead. "I'll meet you where we first arrived."

"Good luck," said Paige trying to catch her breath.

Bulkhead made it to the top, but had to fight off the rest of the Insecticons. He used one of the gloves Paige had given him on one hand to lessen his contact with the Tox-en when he stabbed several of the Insecticons with it. Finally, the lava destroyed the Tox-en and he went to meet with Paige. He was definitely feeling the damage from the battle and the affects from the little exposure he had gotten from the Tox-en, but with Fowler's continued encouragement over the com-link, he made it to Paige. The portal for the groundbridge opened and Paige tried to help him through. Suddenly Paige heard Hardshell behind them. He released a shot and Paige yanked Bulkhead to the side as hard as she could. The shot missed his back and hit his shoulder sending him sprawling into the base. Paige was forced to jump over him. Too tired and dizzy to keep her own balance, she fell first to her knees and then barely managed to catch herself before she face planted. The floor felt cool and refreshing and Paige didn't move from where she lay blissfully giving into unconsciousness.

xxxxxx

Ratchet's elation at tricking the Decepticons and getting more of the Iacon database was quickly dampened when Bulkhead collapsed through the portal. Paige was right behind him, but after avoiding Bulkhead on the floor, she too had collapsed. He could see from where he was that Paige was still breathing so he attended to Bulkhead first while Agent Fowler explained about the Tox-en. Bulkhead's exposure was very little and most of the damage had occurred from the fight. The shot he had taken to the back of his shoulder would render his arm useless for a while, but it was repairable. Suddenly the group from New York arrived victorious. Miko let out a scream when she saw Bulkhead and Bumblebee quickly helped Ratchet move him to med bay.

Fowler walked down to where Paige lay and lay a hand on her giant wrist. He could feel a steady pulse and she was breathing. He didn't see any wounds or burns so he was sure she'd probably be fine.

"What's her status?" called Ratchet.

"Pulse is steady and she's breathing," said Fowler. "It's probably exhaustion though there are a lot of potentially hazardous chemical fumes that volcanoes release. I'll give Ms. Darby a call for direction."


	10. Chapter 10

When Paige finally woke up, a day and a half had past. She was no longer lying on the floor nor was she in the main control room anymore. She was currently lying on a metal berth with several silver emergency blankets draped over her torso. The lights in the room were dim, but she could make out her supplies on the floor. She immediately reached for her water bottle and drank the rest of the contents. She then slowly pushed herself up and leaned against the wall. She shivered immediately so she placed the blankets on her shoulders to form a barrier with the wall. She rubbed her chest because her lungs ached slightly and discovered a rip in her bra. It wasn't enough to scandalize anyone, but even with her smaller chest, it would at her current size be showing way too much cleavage to the kids, one who happened to be a hormonal teenager. Maybe she could ask Nurse Darby to get her some material for a shirt now that she didn't have her jacket anymore. She reached for her purse and grabbed her sowing kit. After she patched the rip as best she could, she stood and fumbled for the door. She needed to relieve herself and she wanted a bath. The door finally opened and Paige headed down the hall to the control room. It was currently evening and Cliffjumper was on duty.

"Hey there," said Cliffjumper. "It's good to see you up. You gave us a scare."

"I'm fine," said Paige. "I just needed to sleep. Can you send me to the island please."

"I don't know," said Cliffjumper. "Ratchet might want to see you first, but he's recharging right now."

"It can't wait," said Paige. "He can see me when he gets up. Just tell him I intimidated you into it. I'm still taller than you anyway." She was still a head taller than Optimus, but at this point their strength would beat hers hands down.

Cliffjumper laughed at that and activated the groundbridge for her.

xxxxxx

After she took care of her most pressing needs, she filled her bottle with fresh water. She was headed back toward the beach when she saw several Vehicons. She ducked back behind the trees and headed in the opposite direction when she came face to face with Knockout.

"Well look what we have here," he said.

Paige dropped down immediately and scooped two fistfuls of sand into his face. Knockout let out a yell as he was blinded. She dodged around him and ran for the water. She could see three Vehicon jets headed her way as she splashed into the ocean. She dove under as they started firing surfacing only occasionally to get her bearing. They either quickly lost her or weren't interested in her at all. She made her way to a clump of rock that she could cling to and watched them scour the beach. They didn't leave though and that gave Paige the idea that they were waiting for someone to retrieve her so they could ambush them. Paige stealthily moved around the island until she could see the point where the groundbridge would normally open. She could see the Vehicons settling in to wait. She briefly wondered how they had known that the groundbridge would appear there, but shook her head at her own stupidity. It was where her footsteps started. She swam into an inlet not far from there and prepared. She removed her pants thankful that she had chosen to wear boy shorts as her underwear the day she arrived here. She glanced through the trees to see that her water bottle and shoes had been planted not far from the portal's location obviously to mislead her allies. She only had a simple plan in mind, but she didn't have much to work with so now all she had to do was wait. Hopefully someone would come before she got hypothermia.

xxxxxx

Ratchet was furious when he onlined to find Paige gone. Cliffjumper had reassured him that she only went to the island and that she looked fine.

"Are you the Medic now?" asked Ratchet. "She's fine when I say she's fine. Keep the bridge open because I'm bringing her back immediately."

Ratchet stepped through the portal and saw Paige's footwear and water bottle nearby, but he also suddenly found himself surrounded by six Vehicons with their weapons aimed at him. Knockout stood there with a satisfied smirk on his face. Ratchet sighed and raised his arms in surrender when a black cloth dropped over four of the Vehicon's heads and they were all yanked off balance causing them to crash to the ground in a pile. Paige slammed her recovered water bottle into one of the remaining Vehicon's heads sending him crashing into his fellow. Knockout got a hold of the back of Paige's sports bra, but Paige was more flexible and she twisted in his grip slamming her water bottle into his face. She heard something rip and suddenly she was free. She ran toward Ratchet with her shoes in her hand easily beating Knockout because she was faster in the sand. Despite being down, one of the Cons started to ready his blaster in Ratchet's direction. Paige barreled into Ratchet sending them both through the portal. Paige was wet so when they hit the ground, she skidded on her side sliding on the base floor with Ratchet tucked safely into her chest. Cliffjumper immediately shut the portal.

"What happened?" came his immediate question.

Ratchet and Paige started to slowly untangle themselves. His face was buried in her cleavage and one of his hands was a bit higher.

"Ratchet, watch your hands," said Paige holding her chest as she rolled onto her back. She could tell that the back clasp on her sports bra was broken thanks to Knockout. She looked up to see that they had a full audience and her face went beet red. Here she was in her underwear in front of three kids and all the Autobots with Ratchet partially on top of her. Cliffjumper was holding one of her shoes and Optimus was holding the other.

"What were you guys doing?" asked Miko slyly.

Paige got up immediately collecting one shoe from Cliffjumper and the other from Optimus while keeping a tight grip on the front of her bra. "Ratchet, you explain," she said turning and running out of the main control room and down the hall exposing her bare back in the process. Arcee followed her out.

Both Jack and Rafael were red faced as well. It wasn't because Paige was in her underwear, but that she'd been so embarrassed about it that it had made them conscious of it as well.

Ratchet explained how he was ambushed by Knockout and the Vehicons and that Paige had come to his rescue at the expense of losing some of her supplies. Optimus recommended that she no longer leave the base. It was beyond time they constructed some accommodations for her now that she was smaller.

Arcee helped Paige find the room she was in before and Paige set about trying to fix her bra. She was currently sitting with her back to the door sowing when her door opened. She immediately brought her knees up to her chest and glanced back to see who it was. It was Optimus. The door slid shut behind him.

"Pardon me if I don't turn to face you," said Paige. "Humans are finicky about not having their clothes on."

"Of course," said Optimus. "I wanted to thank you for saving Ratchet. He is truly indispensible to us."

"He only got involved because he came looking for me," said Paige. "I didn't come here to cause you trouble."

"You also prevented Bulkhead from suffering even more severe damage by accompanying him on the relic hunt. He told me about the precautions you took. Plus many of the warnings that you've given us have allowed us to avoid injury," said Optimus. "We owe you thanks for that."

"You're welcome," said Paige finishing the stitch. She looked at her work and then put her bra back on quickly. It was still slightly wet so she shivered. She turned around to face Optimus.

"This will be your room for now and I've asked Arcee to show you the other facilities that should suit your needs. The island you've been visiting is compromised now and I wish for you to remain here. I've asked Cliffjumper to compile a list of anything you need so that we can get it to Fowler," he said.

"Thank you," said Paige.

"I must get back to deciphering the database," said Optimus heading for the door.

"Of course," responded Paige.

Arcee came in next and she showed her the room they were using to clean off in. "It's only water in this one. It doesn't get hot, but it'll get warm," said Arcee.

Warm water would be paradise for Paige since she'd only been bathing in cold water. This wasn't salt water either so it wouldn't make her scratches hurt. Arcee then showed her another room with a large open drain that would work for waste disposal.

"Scans indicate that they were dumping some type of dirt down there so it should be okay for your needs." Arcee also indicated several other water spigots that could be used to get drinking water from. "I asked Bumblebee to put some clean empty cubes in your room for your water. They don't have any energon residue so they won't make you sick," said Arcee.

"I appreciate it," said Paige. "Thanks for showing me around."

On her way back to her room Paige ran into Cliffjumper. He had a data pad with him. "The boss told me to get with you to find out what you needed," he said.

"I need lots of soap, several bolts of cloth preferably the same color, two large beach towels and more protein and vitamin powder or any other food he can throw in," she said. "That should do for now."

"I'll send this to him right away," said Cliffjumper.

xxxxxx

True to his word she got the supplies three days later. The bolts of cloth were black and blue polyester. While Paige would have preferred cotton, the polyester would keep her warmer. Ms. Darby must have been contacted about the cloth because she showed up with a sowing machine. Paige was nearly Optimus' height now so they took her measurements and made a simple blue three quarter sleeved shirt, a black skirt that reached her mid calf and black knee high socks with the rest of the material. The clothes fit her, but were rather snug. Paige didn't think they would shrink with her like her original clothes so she made them tight to give her some time before she would have to alter them. She thanked Mrs. Darby profusely for her help.


	11. Chapter 11

Unsurprisingly, the next bot to show up was Smokescreen. Paige had come into the main control room because she was bored just as he looked up from looking at the kids.

"They come in different sizes?" he asked. "Or are these younglings?"

"While they are indeed children," said Optimus. "The adults do not get much bigger. We are not aware of what caused Paige to become so tall."

"I'm shrinking though," added Paige.

"I don't recall a relic that could do that," said Smokescreen looking at her curiously. "But there were thousands of them after all."

xxxxxx

Oddly enough it was Smokescreen that took to Paige the most. It wasn't completely surprising. Three of the bots already had charges to keep track of. Bumblebee she couldn't understand, Arcee was more of the occasional sarcastic comment and Bulkhead was tied up with Miko most the time. Sure Cliffjumper would chat with her occasionally, but for the most part everyone was too preoccupied with patrols and other duties. Smokescreen was new and didn't fit in yet so Paige had taken him under her wing in terms of explaining Earth's culture and how to fit in. This alleviated some of the mishaps involving him being seen by humans though it didn't stop Jack and him from getting involved in the races. She also told him stories both real and from old movies when he had time. Some of the movies didn't exist here or maybe they would in the future. Regardless, it was an easy way to pass the time because she had absolutely nothing to do. Even when she offered her help, she was turned down unless it was cleaning.

xxxxxx

Paige was leaning against the wall in the main control room and Smokescreen had one hand against it next to her shoulder as he leaned next to her. He said something and she laughed. It was the first time the others had heard her laugh so genuinely.

"I think our young friend has matured a lot by befriending Paige," said Optimus to Ratchet as he observed them.

"She simply has the patience to listen to all his bragging," said Ratchet dismissively.

"Sometimes that is all that is needed," said Optimus turning back to his screen. "That someone is willing to listen. Though she did do us a favor when she informed him of Earth's customs. It was something that slipped my mind in my haste to decode the database."

"If it keeps him out of the med bay, then I'm fine with it," said Ratchet.

"Paige may not be a child, but she's still as fragile as they are. This situation has given her more than just the wounds that we can see," said Optimus. "Smokescreen seems to have taken her on as a charge even unofficially to their mutual benefit."

Later as Ratchet walked down the hall toward his room, he encountered Smokescreen stepping out of a room that he knew was not his. "Smokescreen, what were you doing in Paige's room?" asked Ratchet suspiciously.

"Just talking," he replied blinking. "Oh come on Doc, she's a friend and she's human," said Smokescreen.

Paige stuck her head out of her room and her face was bright red. "What he says is true," she stated. "Ratchet, next time you want to talk about me, might not want to do it in front of my door."


	12. Chapter 12

The hunt for the relics continued and Paige felt frustrated because she didn't know what to do. It wasn't like they would let her help retrieve any more of them and she was a bit too big to simply slip away like the kids could. She wasn't in any type of shape to become physically involved anyway and she didn't know of any coordinates that would help locate them. Sure she knew what the Omega Keys could do, but if she let them know that Smokescreen had one, he might offline when he gets captured and she wasn't going to risk that. After getting to know him, she had quickly realized that he wasn't the complete egotist that the cartoon had portrayed and he had a rather sharp mind, but he was still young and liable to make mistakes hence the reason he got captured in the first place. She did give him plenty of compliments about his usage of the Phase Shifter if only to encourage him to use it.

Paige was leaning against the wall in the control room watching Ratchet examine one of the Omega Keys. She could tell by his behavior that he was stumped. It was obvious he didn't have any clue what it was. "You should take a break," said Paige startling him. "Then look at it with fresh optics."

"There is no time to waste," said Ratchet returning to his work. "We need to figure out what these do before the Decepticons."

"Except you're wasting your time on something that won't matter," said Paige. "It'll simply end up back in storage with the rest of the relics whether you figure it out or not."

"Well if you're so smart, tell me what it does," said Ratchet with his back still turned to her.

"It's a key Ratchet," said Paige. "A key wouldn't be built unless it opens something so there is obviously a lock and this lock requires more than one key. Instead of agonizing over this, you should be doing more important things like looking after the children."

Ratchet snorted.

"I did warn you," said Paige quietly leaving the room.

Ratchet turned to look at her, but she was already gone.

xxxxxx

Smokescreen returned with two of the Omega Keys after escaping the Nemesis. Paige congratulated him on a job well done, but then hightailed it to her room. Smokescreen's efforts would soon be undone and she knew what came next. There was no way she was going to be caught out of her room with Starscream roaming the halls. He'd probably remember her punting him off the plateau so she wouldn't give him the chance to kill her. Unlike the others, she would be easy to kill so she hid in her room and locked the door. She wasn't strong enough to stop him even at normal speed and the Autobots weren't fast enough to take him down as long as the red energon still burned in his systems.

Paige didn't notice anything different, but she suddenly shivered the hairs prickling on the back of her neck. She only knew Starscream had come and gone when the sprinklers in the hallway were set off. She left her room in a hurry wearing only her underwear and went to the emergency water supply quickly shutting it off. The sprinkler system hadn't been flushed in years so all that stagnant water came down from the ceiling. Paige wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell. As soon as the water stopped falling, she collected her clothes and went to take a shower.

After her shower, she packed her few belongings into her purse and waited near her door until Smokescreen walked by. She promptly pulled Smokescreen into her room and begged him to use the Phase Shifter to get her out of the base unnoticed. She would only tell him that it was important and urgent. She promised to tell him the real reason why when they were out of the base. Shifting was a unique experience. It felt like walking into a marshmallow every time they passed through an object, but there was no resistance. Each surface had a signature texture that would disappear as they passed through. This was how it felt to Paige and she wondered if Smokescreen noticed it at all.

They ended up in a large cave about two miles outside of the base. That was when Smokescreen noticed that she had brought all of her belongings with her. "You're leaving for good, aren't you?" he asked frowning.

"I can't stay at the base anymore," said Paige. "It's only a matter of time before the Cons find it and I'd only be in the way. I'm still too big to blend in so sending me somewhere else would be pointless. I can't fight and the Cons would kill me on sight. It's not like they have a jar big enough for me and I don't relish burning to death in the base."

Smokescreen looked at her in confusion.

"Smokescreen, when they captured you, they used the cortical psychic patch to read your mind. When Starscream stole the Omega Keys, he went right back to the Cons to negotiate or he would be here right now. It's not like he had a choice because he doesn't have the resources to do anything on his own. Did you think that Megatron wouldn't use the patch on him? He needs to know if he's trustworthy or not. Megatron's crazy remember not stupid. The only thing good about this situation is that Dreadwing will finally find out that Starscream was the one who really killed his brother, Skyquake. This will be the only advantage you'll gain."

"Where are you getting your information?" asked Smokescreen confused.

"It's not hard to figure out what they'll do based on their past actions," said Paige. "I might not be able to help, but I do listen to what's going on. Even the unpredictable Cons have behavior patterns. It's called psychology." Paige didn't know if Smokescreen would believe her, but that was all the explanation she was going to give. She wasn't a doctor of psychology or even a student, but he didn't need to know that. Trying to explain how she actually knew would take longer and was even more unbelievable. If they had believed her in the first place, then Optimus would have switched bases much earlier. She released a sigh. When trying to change fate, sometimes fate pushed back. "You need to go back," said Paige looking up at Smokescreen. At this point he was taller than her now. "I'll be fine. They need you and I know you'll do what you think is right." Paige turned and walked away from him trying to encourage him to leave. Smokescreen hesitated for a moment and then shifted through the wall disappearing as he headed back to base.

It wasn't completely dark yet, but Paige headed out of the cave anyway and continued to put distance between her and the base. She had originally wanted Smokescreen to stay behind at the base with her while Optimus escaped, but knew that trying to convince Optimus to do that would be a losing battle. Even if he did agree to leave, convincing him to use the Forge on himself instead of the Omega Lock would be impossible and they desperately needed a flyer on their side. For things to continue as they should, Optimus would have to nearly die. Hopefully, Smokescreen would make the choice to save Optimus again. As for right now, she needed to focus on trying to survive out here once again on her own.


	13. Chapter 13

Dreadwing gave the Autobots the Forge of Solus Prime in revenge on Megatron for accepting the mech that had killed his brother back into the Decepticon ranks. Optimus quickly used the Forge to turn their groundbridge into a spacebridge after divulging that the Omega Lock was on Cybertron. Everyone but Ratchet went to Cybertron to steal back the Omega Keys from the Cons and restore Cybertron. The Cons however had kidnapped Raf, Jack and Miko forcing the Autobots to relinquish both their weapons and the keys.

Smokescreen couldn't help but think about Paige's earlier comment on jars as he looked at the kids. She had known, he realized. She had predicted what would happen both with Dreadwing and the Forge and with the kids. He couldn't see her as a traitor because she had warned him. If only someone had listened to her, things could have been different.

xxxxxx

Paige could feel the ground shaking as Megatron began terraforming Earth with the Omega Lock. She stepped out of the cave she was currently taking shelter in to see the rising tower in the distance. So begins the beast hunt, she thought.

On Cybertron, Optimus regained his sword and destroyed the Omega Lock effectively saving Earth and extinguishing the hope for Cybertron's restoration all in one go. The resulting battle on Earth and explosion of the base could be heard for miles around and Paige could feel the resulting tremors even as she sought shelter deeply in the cave. She knew the team would be headed back after they regrouped, but she didn't know how long that would take. Right now all she could do was avoid the Cons. Hopefully, she would meet up with the Autobots before Shockwave's pet found her.

Xxxxxx

At the army base, the Autobots, the kids, Fowler and Ms. Darby had gathered after the battle.

"Okay, someone's got to say it," said Miko looking up at the new larger Optimus. "Optimus 2.0 is rad. Imagine what the Forge could do for your body."

Ratchet huffed. "Is it true that the Forge has been drained of all its power? Then any hope of rebuilding the Omega Lock has truly been lost."

"I did what I thought was right," said Smokescreen looking down.

"And your instincts have once again proven to be quite sound," said Ratchet.

Smokescreen raised his head in surprise as the Autobots and their allies celebrated their latest victory.

Smokescreen approached Optimus. "Permission to leave to search for Paige?" he asked.

"Where did Paige go?" asked Ratchet curiously. "She wasn't there when we evacuated the base."

"I used the Phase Shifter to take her to a cave a few miles outside of the base," said Smokescreen. "She insisted on it. She said she'd only get in the way and that the base would be compromised soon."

"When was this?" asked Optimus.

"Shortly after I returned with the Omega Keys," said Smokescreen sheepishly. "She did say that she warned you."

"She did," admitted Optimus. "However at the time there were too many situations to deal with and I'm afraid her warning was overlooked."

"If she had knowledge about was going to happen, could she be a spy?" asked Ultra Magnus narrowing his eyes.

"Paige is human," said Ratchet looking at Ultra Magnus. "She didn't have access to any electronic devices and she was confined to the base. There was no way she could have gotten a message out to the Decepticons."

"Paige has given us no reason to doubt her word," said Optimus. "She's given us warnings and help willingly while risking injury to herself."

"Plus she's gone up against the Cons," added Bulkhead. "They're not on friendly terms with her especially Starscream."

"She's saved my hide before," added Cliffjumper.

"Do you know where to look for her?" asked Ratchet turning his attention to Smokescreen.

"I know where I left her, but she may have moved," he replied. "She was in a hurry to get distance between herself and the base."

"Take this," said Ratchet handing Smokescreen a handheld scanner. "I put a tracker in her bag. It's short range, but it'll make her easier to find." Ratchet looked up to find the group staring at him.

"Trust issues," said Miko from below.

"Okay," said Smokescreen taking the scanner and leaving.

"Hey, you don't have a tracker on us, do you?" Miko called up to Ratchet.

"I do not, but knowing your tendency to disappear and your small size perhaps I'll make you a collar," said Ratchet. "So you don't get lost anymore."

Miko huffed. "You better be kidding Doc."

Ratchet just smirked at her miffed off expression.

xxxxxx

Paige was so relieved to see Smokescreen she wanted to cry. She didn't have enough water in her body to spare for tears however. Her water supply had run out nearly two days ago and she hadn't found another water source yet. Her search was hampered because she could only move at night. Not only did she have to avoid any remaining Cons in the area, but she also couldn't afford to sweat any precious liquid away during the day. She was acutely aware that most people died after three days without water and she feared that would happen to her. She had assumed that the Autobots would regroup and forget about her again so when she first saw Smokescreen she thought she was hallucinating. He turned out to be the real thing however and all she could think was that she was so fortunate that they didn't forget her this time. She immediately hugged him much to his surprise. Paige was too weak to walk for long distances so Smokescreen ended up carrying her most the way. He told her that Ratchet had attached a tracker to her purse and given the situation Paige couldn't be mad at him.

Smokescreen ended up carrying a disorientated Paige back to base. He was surprised to find that despite her being just under Bumblebee's height, she was ridiculously light for her size. Of course she wasn't made of metal and she was rather thin for a human so that helped a lot. Smokescreen phased through whatever was in his way in order to get her to the base as fast as possible. When they finally arrived, she pointed at a hose connected to the wall of one of the buildings on base. He gently placed her down next to it and she immediately turned the water on and drank and drank.

Paige didn't care about anything but getting water. She didn't bother pulling out the empty cubes from her purse instead she drank straight from the hose until she couldn't drink anymore. Then she sprayed the water over herself letting it cool her down externally. The base would probably have a very large water bill this month, but that wasn't her problem. She finally shut off the hose and looked up to see both Smokescreen and Ratchet hovering over her. They helped her up and into the hanger that now served as their base.

"Paige," said Optimus in greeting as she entered.

Ultra Magnus looked at her in confusion. "I was unaware that the natives could reach our size."

"Paige is unique," said Optimus. "When we first encountered her, she was over three times my original size."

Ultra Magnus looked like he couldn't even imagine that.

"She's shrinking," said Ratchet. "We believe she may have been exposed to a relic, but we've been unable to determine if that was the case." Ratchet helped her sit down on a raised platform.

"Paige, this is Ultra Magnus," said Optimus.

Paige inclined her head in acknowledgement. Her eyes swept Optimus from top to bottom. To be honest she preferred Optimus' bulked up appearance to the one he had before. The original had made his seem gangly and it was cool that he could fly now. She had known that Ultra Magnus had the same color scheme, but he was mostly blue compared to Optimus' red. He was also incredibly tall, but he was still no match for Optimus' new height. Ratchet drew her attention away from them.

"You are severely dehydrated," said Ratchet.

"I'm well aware of that," said Paige.

"You could have died out there on your own," said Ratchet in reprimand.

"Unicron, the Cons, Mech, the elements and now the Predacon," said Paige. "Any one of them could have killed me Ratchet. I'm well aware of that and yes I saw the Predacon. Ultra Magnus, I assume the ship I saw was yours. Nice flying by the way," she said.

Ms. Darby walked up the stairs to stand on the platform next to her son. She watched as Paige tried to prevent Ratchet from poking and prodding her. "Is she okay?" asked Ms. Darby in concern.

"I'm suffering from two day dehydration and I'm probably 50lbs underweight if I had to guess," said Paige briefly lifting her shirt to show that her ribs were more prominent now. "I think I've already burned through my bodies' reserves. Other than that, I'm fine. I still have some protein powder so hopefully I can last until I shrink further."

Ms. Darby frowned. "Is that all you've been eating?" she asked. When Paige nodded, Ms. Darby stood up and headed for the stairs. "They have a mess hall here," she said. "I'll see if they can make you a large batch of soup. You'll need to start eating something light before you start on the heavier food. Ratchet, leave her alone," said Ms. Darby sternly. "She's malnourished and dehydrated, which means she'll be weak until her health is restored. I can't believe you let it get to this point."

Ratchet actually managed to look guilty.

"He's an alien," pointed out Paige in his defense. "How was he supposed to know anything about us? Sure they could have learned from the Internet, but they're kind of in the middle of a war so they have other priorities. Plus the kids always got fed at home or brought their own food so it was likely they assumed we were self-sufficient. Fowler did get me the protein powder and I used to be much bigger than I am now. Otherwise I'd be worried about decimating the food supply in the area."

Ms. Darby considered her argument, but still left with a disgruntled look on her face. Paige looked over at Jack. "Sorry, I think we peeved your mom off," she said.

Jack laughed. "She's just overprotective sometimes," he said.

"True, but you're the one that has to deal with her later," said Paige. "I wouldn't be surprised if she comes back with a plate full of healthy food for you as well. No more fast food burgers for you."

Jack groaned at the thought.


	14. Chapter 14

That evening a blue and yellow sports car sped into the hanger.

"Smokescreen?" asked Arcee.

He transformed. "What gave me away? C'mon, robots in disguise, right?"

"Where have been soldier?" asked Ultra Magnus coming over.

"Scanning new war paint. I thought it'd be proactive following Optimus' example and Bumblebee's."

"Now you can look your best stacking those empty cubes," said Ultra Magnus.

"Yes sir," said Smokescreen. As he walked toward the cubes he grumbled, "I was nearly a Prime and now I'm still a rookie."

"What was that about a Prime?" asked Ratchet from where he sat.

"Ah, time, time to stop acting like a rookie," he replied. He started stacking the cubes when Paige suddenly glomped him in a hug. She said something so quiet that no one else could hear.

"I think you'd make a great Prime, but you made the right choice. This is Optimus' battle to finish. You'll see that soon enough," she said cryptically.

She released him and walked off. Smokescreen rubbed the back of his head in happy embarrassment when he caught sight of the others looking at him. He merely shrugged and continued on with his task.

"Smokescreen was the only one who went back. If it weren't for him, Optimus might not be here today," said Arcee to Ratchet.

"Arcee, we were under the strictest of orders," said Ratchet. "And the three of you had your human partners to protect. We are just fortunate that Smokescreen is inexperienced enough to not follow protocol."

Xxxxxx

The next morning, Optimus brought back a fossil he had recovered while out looking for energon.

"It cannot be," said Ratchet examining the fossil.

"What?" asked Jack.

"The ancient remains of a Predacon," said Optimus.

"Though it remains unclear why such a skull would be found on your planet, its presence reveals all too much about the Predacon which Megatron recently sent in pursuit of us," explained Ratchet.

"You mean that dragon bot we put on ice?" asked Miko.

"Except that Predacons have been extinct since, well," said Ratchet.

"Since before most life began on Cybertron," said Smokescreen finishing for him.

"They're like Earth's dinosaurs," said Raf.

"Which means for you guys, running into one would be like us meeting a T-Rex," said Jack.

"So then what were dinobots?" asked Miko.

"Totally different," said Bulkhead.

"With Megatron's new interest in the excavation of prehistoric skeletons and a certain scientist back among the Decepticon ranks," said Ratchet.

"It would stand to reason that Shockwave cloned the beast from one such find," said Optimus.

"And now Megatron's looking to clone another," said Ultra Magnus.

"What makes you think bucket-head would stop at just one?" asked Wheeljack.

"We could have beast wars on our hands," said Bulkhead optics widening.

"And if Shockwave only requires a single strand of CNA from which to clone a beast," said Ratchet.

"He already possesses what he needs to engender this one. Autobots we must become beast hunters," said Optimus.

"One thing doesn't follow. Predacons went extinct on Cybertron so what would their bones be doing here?" asked Smokescreen.

"Probably the same way energon got onto the planet," said Paige from where she sat on the floor. "Unicron was composed of dark energon which explains its presence in the Earth. Regular energon wasn't native to Earth so it must have been brought here."

"They did move energon stores off world during the beginning of the war," said Ultra Magnus.

"I would assume that it would take awhile to clone a beast so Shockwave must already have had that Predacon developing before he came to Earth. Am I wrong?" asked Paige.

"That is highly likely," said Ratchet.

"Since it was an immediate success perhaps those weren't the only clones he's made in the past," reasoned Paige. "They are finding the fossils on Earth rather quickly so maybe he micro-chipped his creations like we do with pets."

"Are you saying that he originally sent those Predacons to Earth?" asked Cliffjumper. "What for?"

"It would make sense if they were sent to guard the energon," said Arcee.

Ratchet pulled up a few pictures of the Predacons from their ancient texts on the computer screen. "From our historical texts," he said.

"But those are metal versions of creatures from our Greek mythology and medieval literature," said Jack.

"Not dinosaurs," added Raf.

"It would stand to reason that Predacons did indeed walk on Earth in ancient times as they seem to be the basis for much of Earth's folklore. Illustrating once again that the pasts of Cybertron and Earth are inextricably linked," said Optimus.

Paige and the kids were asleep when Optimus came over to look at what Ratchet was working on. "Synthetic energon?" he asked.

"Indeed, I am concerned that without access to energon reserves since our base was destroyed our ability to deal with impending crises will be severely hampered," said Ratchet turning around.

"A wise decision old friend," said Optimus.

"Just please manage your expectations. I am dealing with more rudimentary hardware than before," said Ratchet.

Fowler suddenly barged in waking Paige and Miko up in the process and told the bots about the Con signals they'd detected. Paige didn't say a thing as she watched Miko sneak off. She knew they'd be returning with the Apex armor.


	15. Chapter 15

Wheeljack came back alone from his mission with the wreckers, but left promptly with Arcee after another signal was detected.

Ms. Darby showed up and came up behind her son who was on the couch playing video games. "Nice shooting Tex," she said.

"Hey Mom, what's up?" asked Jack.

"Nurse Darby, what brings you here?" asked Fowler strolling up as he straightened his tie.

"The medical supplies you so graciously offered to donate that Jack keeps forgetting to bring home. The hospital appreciates your generosity Agent Fowler," she replied.

"Please, call me Bill," said Fowler.

Jack glanced behind him in suspicion.

"Guys, I found a Predacon talon in a museum. Scientists were totally stumped when they excavated it in 1922 so it's in storage," said Raf looking at his computer.

"But we're fresh out of beast hunters," said Jack.

"I didn't choose emergency as my vehicle mode for laughs," said Ratchet stepping away from his computer.

"Not sure you need a bot," said Fowler.

"Maybe you should all just wait for Optimus to get back," said Ms. Darby.

"I'll have you know Nurse Darby that I was an Army Ranger and federal agent for unit E three decades before I even heard of the name Optimus Prime. I'm more than equipped to handle a milk run. In fact, why don't you tag along?" offered Fowler.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Ms. Darby uncertainly.

"Absolutely not, Mom I don't want you anywhere near anything Con. It's not," said Jack.

"Safe," said Ms. Darby cutting off her son. "Is my teenage son seriously going to tell me that it's fine for him to travel all the way to Cybertron, but his mother can't be trusted to go on a, a, milk run," she said when Fowler supplied the word.

"No, it's just you're lactose intolerant and I," said Jack trailing off.

"Come on Agent Fowler," said Ms. Darby.

Paige laughed from where she was leaning against the wall. "No worries Jack. I'll go with them. I can't go inside, but I can provide backup if they need it," said Paige walking over. Optimus wasn't here to tell her no and Paige knew that Knockout would be there without any backup. She also owed June for the clothes alterations and the food she had helped provide recently.

xxx

Paige could only laugh as she thought about it. She was now routinely getting soup with vegetables and meat to add to her protein powder. It was the best thing she'd eaten in a long time. To be honest she had almost forgotten how enjoyable food was as the protein powder she was surviving on was mostly tasteless. June had also gotten her one of those large chocolate sauce bottles and Paige had drained it in two minutes flat. She had missed the taste of real food terribly, but she had missed the taste of chocolate even more. She had practically collapsed against the wall head leaning back as she savored the chocolate flavor. Her actions had alarmed Ratchet and he had immediately asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine Ratchet," said Paige sighing. "I think I can die happy now."

"I fail to see how imbibing that concoction would make it okay for you to offline," said Ratchet looking at the bottle. "The sugar content alone makes it unhealthy."

"It's only a saying and I could use the calories," said Paige. "Chocolate for the majority of females on this planet is a must. It activates the serotonin in our brains and makes us feel happy. It's not the only thing that can do it, but it's one of the easiest and safest ways. I don't think I've felt this content since I got here."

"Not that there's much to be happy about," said Ratchet looking back at his computer.

Paige got up slowly and moved to stand next to him. She placed her hand gently on his side and he startled slightly. "I understand how you feel, but you're not the only one that lost their home Ratchet. I didn't have a lot to leave behind, but that doesn't mean I don't miss it everyday. You still have a good chance to get your home back. I won't likely see mine again since there are no clues to how I came here in the first place so I'll take the little happy I can get." She patted his arm comfortingly and moved away from him returning to her corner.

"Perhaps I can ask Agent Fowler to get you more of this chocolate," said Ratchet without looking at her.

Paige practically melted at that. Ratchet could be so sweet sometimes when all the angst and gruffness wasn't getting in the way. "If you did that, I'd love you forever," said Paige smiling widely.

xxx

Pulled out of her thoughts Paige turned her attention back to Raf as she approached the portal slinging her now mostly empty purse over her arm.

"What if you get seen?" asked Raf.

"Blame it on Photoshop," said Paige. "I'm a lot easier to explain than he would be," she said nodding toward Ratchet. "Wish me luck."

xxxxxx

Paige waited in the dark alley while Fowler and June went inside the museum to collect the fossil. She spotted Knockout pulling up not too long after and pulled the sharp pieces of metal that she'd taken from Ratchet's worktable out of her purse. While the approaching humans diverted his attention, she quickly threw one sharp piece of metal behind his rear left tire and physically attacked the front left tire with the other causing an immediate flat. He quickly reversed backward away from her and popped the back tire as he did.

As he transformed, a scowl prominent on his face, Paige was already running toward Fowler and June. She picked them up and tucked them into her purse. She was still slightly taller than Arcee at this point so they only came up to her knees. She couldn't help but think about those oversized dolls kids used to carry around with them as she looked down at the two humans in her purse. The theme song from the old My Buddy commercial played in her head as she turned and ran trying to put as many power poles and buildings between herself and Knockout.

"You again," muttered Knockout. He couldn't drive after her with the condition of his tires, but he was taller than her now and he could still catch her. He wondered if the Autobots were actually serious if they were sending a human to go against them even if this one was bigger than the others. The fact that she'd been bigger before didn't escape his notice and fanned his scientific curiosity. Humans didn't have the ability to spontaneously change size. He knew that much.

Paige headed down another alley and quickly let Fowler and June down. She had intended for them to enter the nearby apartment building so they could call Ratchet and bridge back to safety, but they suddenly ran down a side alley instead. For some reason they weren't sticking to the plan. Venting in frustration she went up and over the one story building in front of her with the help of a nearby dumpster. She had the box containing the bone safely tucked in her purse as well as the pepper spray that she had borrowed off of June.

"Do you really think you can hide from me?" called Knockout. He turned the corner to see Fowler slide to a halt while June stood behind him eyes wide in fear. "There you are."

Clinging to the fire escape on the building behind him, Paige dropped her purse strap over his head and yanked back. He was quickly pulled off balance, but he managed to cut the strap with his saw. He turned around to confront Paige, but she and the others had already run off. Knockout rounded another corner and Paige shielded her own face while spraying the pepper spray at his optics. It had worked in the cartoon so she was all for giving it a try.

"My optics," he cried kicking up a fuss. He tried to clear his optics, which were very blurry. "When I get a hold of you," he snarled.

"You'll what?" asked Paige. "You're stuck out here by yourself, you can barely see and your communication system is down. It could be worse. Those two like each other and if you had put them in your trunk, they might have started interfacing."

Knockout shuddered. "Even the thought of that is disgusting," he said. He tried to hail the Nemesis for backup, but he wasn't getting through. "Human, what did you do to the comms?"

"Who knows?" called Paige her voice coming from somewhere else this time. She continued to randomly move around the buildings clutching the crate with the bone in it. She just needed to buy enough time for the others to escape. That's when she caught sight of them again. "What are you doing?" she hissed quietly. "Bridge back to base already. Don't wait for me."

"We're in this together," said Fowler taking the crate from her.

Knockout rounded the corner and caught sight of them.

"Run!" cried Paige.

The game of run, hide and seek continued for a while until Knockout caught Fowler. Luckily he had given the crate to June before he was captured. "Come out, come out or your friend here gets it," said Knockout.

"I'll make you a trade," said Paige from above him. She dropped down from the roof of a nearby building. "Hand him over unharmed and I'll give you the bone."

"Or I could simply shoot you and take it," said Knockout.

"Ah, but it's hidden and only I know where it is," said Paige. "Let him go and I'll lead you to it."

Suddenly June ran by carrying the crate. Paige used the distraction to kick a dumpster on wheels into Knockout. She lunged at him and forced his grip open enough for Fowler to fall to the ground. He quickly ran off after June, but Knockout had a hold of Paige now and he slammed her down against the dumpster lid.

"Call your friends back," he demanded. "Or you'll soon find yourself full of holes."

"There's no need," said Paige. "I have what you're looking for right here." She reached down her shirt and pulled out the bone.

Knockout quickly confiscated the bone and tried once again to raise communications, but there was no answer. "What to do with you?" he said looking down where he had Paige pinned. He was interrupted though when a blast nearly nailed him in the head. He dodged back as Arcee and Wheeljack entered the alley guns blazing. He took off with Wheeljack and Arcee in pursuit.

Paige rolled off the dumpster and stretched. "Took them long enough," she said.

Xxxxxx

As soon as Paige went through the portal accompanied by Arcee and Wheeljack and arrived on base, she confronted Fowler. "What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" he asked.

"The plan was for you two to bridge back immediately if we encountered a Con," said Paige. "What were you doing running around the alleyways? All you had to do was go inside one of the buildings and bridge back."

"I'm a soldier," said Fowler straightening. "I wasn't going to leave an untrained civilian behind."

"You had other responsibilities," said Paige nodding toward June.

"I have to agree with Bill," said June from where she sat next to him. "You're no match for a Decepticon despite your size."

"Paige," said Optimus from behind her.

Paige's back straightened immediately at the call. Turning slightly to see that it was indeed Optimus behind her she bit her lip. "Yes sir?" she asked. She spent the next half hour listening to Optimus scold her for her actions. She didn't get why she had to be reprimanded when Fowler and June got off with a simple your actions were ill advised. Maybe it was because it looked like they had learned their lesson and they were clearly exhausted from running away from Knockout. Miko always did what she wanted regardless of what Optimus said and Paige kind of wished she were in her shoes at the moment because then maybe Optimus wouldn't have bothered with the lecture. "We did bring back the talon we went to retrieve," she pointed out indicating the crate on the table.

"I thought that Knockout took it from you," said Wheeljack.

"No, that was a decoy," said Paige. "What I gave him was a broken part of the skull that Optimus originally found. They already have the CNA for that one so I figured it wouldn't hurt. They didn't get the talon though."

"Good thinking kid," said Wheeljack.

Optimus vented and Paige hugged her arms. She didn't like to disappoint Optimus, but everything she did, she did for a reason.

"Are you injured Paige?" asked Cliffjumper from behind her.

"Huh?" asked Paige turning.

"Your arm," said Cliffjumper pointing.

As she unfolded her arms, she noticed smeared blood on one of her hands. The arm it had been gripping had a short scratch on it and the blood had nearly dried. "Oh, it's just a scratch," said Paige dismissively. "I didn't even realize I had gotten it."

"How can you not know you're injured?" asked Ratchet looking up from his screen. "Are your pain receptors malfunctioning?"

"I was distracted at the time," protested Paige. "So I don't even know when it happened. I'll go take care of it right now," she said quickly seizing the chance to leave before Ratchet could move from his seat.

xxxxxx

The next morning Paige was rinsing down with a hose in the next hanger when Smokescreen came up behind her. He was just returning from a mission and he was covered in dust. She spun in alarm when she heard someone behind her soaking him accidently. "Hey," he said.

She burst out laughing. "A little water isn't going to hurt you. Did you come to take a bath with me?"

Not long after, Bee walked in on the two of them rinsing the soap off of Smokescreen's armor. Paige was now completely soaked head to foot. He beeped something and gestured at them. "Don't be jealous Bee," said Smokescreen borrowing Paige's towel. Paige gestured toward the hose and back at Bumblebee and he quickly headed over. The others later found Smokescreen and Bumblebee nice and clean sitting in a bright patch of sun that made its way into the open hanger door. Paige was reclining between them in her still slightly damp undergarments.


	16. Chapter 16

Most of the bots were gone from the hanger when Fowler got Paige's attention. "We've received some new Intel pinpointing a small group of Mech that we've overlooked," said Fowler. "We want to draw them out, but so far they haven't responded to any of the new tech we placed in the area. They either aren't interested or they know it's a trap."

"What did you need me for?" asked Paige.

"We figured that they may respond to you being in the area," said Fowler. "You're a curiosity they probably can't resist. If you'll assist us."

"You want me to act as bait," said Paige glancing over her shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. "That's fine just don't tell the bots."

Paige knew that she had missed the episodes where Silas had been incorporated into Breakdown's body and captured by the Decepticons. So she knew he wasn't around to cause her any issues. For such an evil man, she still felt sympathy for him since she knew he was being tortured by Knockout. No one deserved the fate of a lab rat.

Paige gave the bots the slip and was transported near the site in an air-conditioned truck Fowler provided. She was given an idea of the general area and immediately set out for a nearby farm. It was rural and it was somewhere she would be expected to show up at. They would probably think she was only scavenging for food. She made sure to pass next to the industrial area and skirt the town as dusk settled in so that she could possibly get sighted. She arrived at the farm as night fell and bent down to harvest some of the larger vegetables grown there. She was sure the farmer wouldn't miss a few and the government would compensate them if they did. She used her shirt to rub off the dirt and ate several of the cucumbers, cauliflower heads and carrots that were growing in the rows near her.

She turned her head as she heard the noise of vehicles driving closer. Grabbing a few more vegetables, she took off in a run and the jeeps followed behind her. She ran into a small ravine and turned as the jeeps pulled up effectively trapping her. It was definitely Mech and she counted about ten of them. She could tell by the uniforms they wore. There was a huge cannon type gun attached to one of the jeeps and they pointed the gun at her, but before they could fire, Fowler and his men made an appearance and surrounded them.

Paige dodged the blast from the cannon and moved to push the jeep onto its side disabling the use of the weapon and their getaway. She grabbed the back of the other jeep as it started to turn and flipped it as well. She disarmed the men closest to her while Fowler and his agents arrested the others. Thankfully she didn't get injured at all during this operation.

"Thanks for your help," said Fowler from below her.

Paige knelt down to examine the gun on the jeep. "This doesn't look like Earth tech," she said. "I'll take it to Ratchet." She disconnected the cannon from the jeep and took it with her on the way back to base. Maybe Ratchet could use it.

Xxxxxx

When Paige arrived back at base, her attempt to sneak into the hanger did not go unnoticed.

"Where have you been soldier?" asked Ultra Magnus.

Of all the bots to say something, she had not expected it to be Ultra Magnus. Unfortunately, him saying this had brought her to the other's attention. She figured honesty was her best bet at this point. "I was assisting Fowler in resolving a human problem," said Paige hefting the gun she acquired from Mech onto the table. "I brought back a souvenir from Mech."

Bumblebee whirled. He had his hands on his hips. Smokescreen, Arcee and Cliffjumper were all looking at her with frowns on their faces.

"We could have helped," said Bulkhead.

"Yeah, we could have stomped Mech into the ground," said Miko from his shoulder.

"That wasn't necessary," said Paige. "Fowler and his men took care of it. There weren't that many Mech operatives left."

Paige heard the sound of Optimus' footsteps and quickly stepped behind Ultra Magnus as he entered the hanger. Ultra Magnus just raised an eye ridge. Ratchet followed Optimus in immediately catching sight of the gun on the table. He quickly came over and examined it.

"What is this?" asked Ratchet hefting the gun.

"A present from Mech," said Paige from behind Ultra Magnus.

Both Optimus and Ratchet turned her way at her voice.

"Is it something you can use?" asked Paige.

"They must have scavenged it off of a fallen Vehicon," said Ratchet. "I'd have to replace a few parts, but it can be made fully functional."

"How was it obtained?" asked Optimus.

Paige didn't answer so someone must have told him over the comm. She used that time to slip out of the hanger and run for the one next door.

Fowler opened the door and walked in just in time to see her leave. He could see the bots examining the cannon. "Don't blame her Prime," he said. "I asked Paige to assist in the capture of the remaining Mech agents. They wouldn't take the technology bait we had waiting for them so we tried using Paige instead. They were definitely still interested in her and we arrested the rest of the group."

"You used her for bait?" asked Ratchet irately.

"On Earth even civilians can volunteer to help put the bad guys behind bars," said Fowler. "She's an adult that can make her own decisions. It's time you realized that."

"Agent Fowler is correct," said Optimus. "She rendered assistance and returned unharmed so the issue will be dropped." He glanced over at Ratchet giving him a pointed look.

Ratchet simply huffed and returned to his work and the others dispersed.

"I don't get it," said Fowler leaning against the railing. "Why are you all so hung up on Paige? You don't even scold the children as much as you do her."

"Unlike the children, Paige will always listen," said Optimus. "Her actions are not the result of reckless decisions like the children. Every time she gets involved, she seems to know exactly what will occur and she's placed our welfare over hers time and again."

"It's her size," added Ratchet from where he sat.

"What do you mean?" asked Fowler.

"Her fragility is that of a human, but her size is that of a Cybertronian," explained Ratchet. "Every time she is injured, it's obvious and yet I'm not trained to heal organics. If she becomes greatly injured, I may not be able to save her."

"Your government sent you as a liaison and the children became accidently involved with us when they encountered the Vehicons, but someone brought Paige here without her consent leaving her in this unexpected predicament bearing knowledge that she shouldn't possess. If she had not found us as quickly as she did, she could have offlined. The Decepticons or Mech would have tortured her for information and then offlined her had they been able to capture her. With her smaller size now, she is even more vulnerable."

"Well Mech is completely dismantled," said Fowler. "So I won't be asking for her help with them again so you can rest easy."

Paige was surprised when she didn't get scolded for her actions. She did notice that some of the bots still seemed upset with her though.


	17. Chapter 17

"Ultra Magnus, something has been troubling you," said Optimus.

"I fear that my command style might be having a negative effect on unit moral," said Ultra Magnus.

"Your service is most welcome old friend, but this is not the elite guard," said Optimus.

"Things have changed since the war for Cybertron," said Ultra Magnus.

"And we must adapt to that change. The members of team prime are not cogs in a machine. They have grown into something greater than an army. They have," said Optimus, but he was cut off by an alarm.

The computer displayed a signal and Ratchet went over to check it. "Optimus, our scanners have detected exposed energon," said Ratchet.

"With our reserves at a critical low, we cannot afford not to investigate," said Optimus.

With the exception of Ratchet, they all went through the groundbridge to investigate.

"Ratchet," said Paige.

"What is it?" asked Ratchet not turning from the computer.

"Do you have enough materials to construct a Cybertronian hand?" asked Paige.

"When we evacuated the base, I brought the materials I constructed from the melted scraplets with," he said. "Creating a fully functional servo should be simple. Why?"

"Because I think you ought to start working on that now," said Paige. "You're going to need it when they get back."

Ratchet turned around to look at Paige. His optics met her eyes and they simply stared at each other for a moment until Ratchet decided that she was completely serious. "I could call Optimus and warn them," said Ratchet.

"It won't help," said Paige with a knowing look.

"I'll start working on it now," said Ratchet. "What size do I need to make it?"

"Use Ultra Magnus as your model," said Paige as she headed out of the hanger.

Ratchet opened the groundbridge once he got the comm and Arcee and Bumblebee arrived hauling carts full of energon. Smokescreen and Bulkhead returned awhile later to find Ratchet busy working on something. When Optimus returned, he was carrying a damaged Wheeljack and an unconscious Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus was missing a hand and Ratchet vented. After all this time, Paige's warnings becoming true no longer surprised him anymore. He came over to check on his patients and then returned to finishing the hand for Ultra Magnus.

When Ultra Magnus came back online, Ratchet was sitting next to him working on his hand. He looked down at his mangled hand and groaned.

"Ratchet will take good care of you," said Optimus as he stood next to the berth.

"Magnus fought like a wrecker," said Wheeljack from where he was sitting.

"Optimus, when we spoke earlier, what could be greater than an army?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"A human concept I've learned since being here, a family," said Optimus.

Xxxxxx

"I've done everything I can," said Ratchet moving away from Ultra Magnus. "Considering the limitations of my equipment."

Paige peered over at Ultra Magnus' new hand. He actually had fingers this time instead of hooks and Ratchet had attached the weapon that she'd taken from Mech to his arm.

"It should prove functional after the requisite amount of therapy," said Ratchet.

"That is all we can ask for old friend," said Optimus.

"Hey look at the bright shiny side. Commander Magnus and Jackie single handedly put the kibosh on Project Predacon," said Bulkhead.

"Though one beast still remains, the one that has demonstrated the ability to transform," said Optimus.

"Prime," said Fowler running in. "We have trouble brewing. The Cons staged a smash and grab at the Las Alamos nuclear plant late last night and made off with 20 tons of control rods."

"What are the Decepticons looking to build?" asked Prime.

Paige wanted to answer him so badly, but she wouldn't be able to explain her knowledge and she couldn't interfere with the timeline not when they were so close to the end. She watched as they left and returned with Soundwave as their prisoner. She left the hanger soon after to get some food.

Xxxxxx

Paige walked back into the hanger to see that only Ratchet, Bulkhead and Smokescreen remained.

"Can't we throw a tarp over him? He's creeping me out," said Bulkhead looking at Soundwave.

"Yea, it's like he's watching no matter where you go," said Smokescreen moving around the room.

"Would both of you stop thinking about what Soundwave can and cannot see," said Ratchet. "Instead concentrate on why Megatron would be interested in something that could generate enough power to create a black hole."

"Black holes. So Megatron's looking to swallow up the known universe," said Smokescreen.

"And everything in it," said Bulkhead.

"No, no," said Ratchet. "He would only use the power of something capable of swallowing worlds to create something. Oh my." Ratchet quickly sent a comm to Optimus. "Optimus, I know this hardly seems the time, but this may aid you in your task. It appears that Megatron is trying to rebuild the Omega Lock. Do we let him?"

"No," responded Optimus. "If Megatron successfully rebuilds the lock, he'll cyberform both Earth and Cybertron and that is something that we cannot allow."

Ratchet sighed in defeat.

"Ratchet, it may not be with the Forge or the Omega lock, but we're going to find a way to get our planet repaired," said Smokescreen comfortingly.

Fowler suddenly walked in carrying a file and Laserbeak flew through the window breaking it. Laserbeak immediately fired on the bots and shot off the restraints holding Soundwave down. The Autobots dodged and fired back while Ratchet pulled Paige behind him. Smokescreen managed to knock off a part of Laserbeak's wing with a lucky shot and Laserbeak quickly landed on Soundwave and integrated with him while quickly reloading his mission parameters. Soundwave regained his senses and attacked the Autobots first electrocuting Smokescreen and Bulkhead with his cables and then knocking Fowler out. Then he advanced on Ratchet who was trying to shield Paige.

Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Fowler awoke to the sound of Arcee requesting a groundbridge.

"Where's Ratchet?" she asked.

"He's gone," said Bulkhead looking around.


	18. Chapter 18

Ratchet came online to find himself strapped to a berth on the Nemesis. He immediately refused to co-operate with Megatron and so Shockwave attached the cortical physic patch and got confirmation that the synthetic energon that Ratchet had created was unstable and the formula was incomplete.

"Are you through poking around in my head?" said Ratchet looking up at Megatron from where he stood in his cell. "You obviously didn't find what you were looking for or you wouldn't be here."

"What I want apparently does not yet exist," said Megatron. "We would very much like you to complete your work on the synthetic energon formula."

"Even if I were capable, do you think that I would hand you a limitless supply of fuel and ammunition just so you can turn around and use it against the Autobots?" asked Ratchet in disbelief.

"Oh, you misunderstand dearest Ratchet. I intend to use your formula for the purpose of creation not destruction. We have fortuitously discovered that Synth-en when combined with CNA may in fact form the basis for an alternative cyber matter."

"You are attempting to rebuild the Omega Lock," said Ratchet in realization.

"We stand on the verge of a great moment in time you and I the restoration of our home world," said Megatron.

"Collaborate with the barbarian that destroyed our world in the first place and sadistically crushed Bumblebee's voice box. No thank you," said Ratchet.

"Should I present you with a choice. Complete your research or," he said gesturing to Soundwave. Soundwave had a firm grip on a shackled Paige and he brought her forward. Her arms were shackled behind her and she nearly stumbled as she was pushed forward. Soundwave's visor also displayed the other kid's pictures as well.

Starscream chuckled from behind. "Humans, always the weak link."

"Are these humans supposed to mean something to me?" asked Ratchet indifferently.

"You picked the wrong Autobot," said Paige suddenly catching everyone's attention. "It was Optimus and a few others that were attached to the kids. Ratchet here never thought they were anything but pests. I'm nothing more than a science experiment to him because he wanted to find the relic that could increase your size and then decrease it automatically. If you think about it, with a relic like that you could put a small bomb in your opponent's ship and set if off when it grew big enough to annihilate them all. I'm sure if the humans got ahold of it, we'd take you all out."

"Where would this relic be located?" asked Megatron his interest piqued.

"Not sure," said Paige. "I can't remember coordinates like you can. The first thing I remember was running into Starscream and the Nemesis over an energon pit. Starscream should know the location."

Megatron turned to glare at Starscream and he raised his arms defensively. "You better know the location she's talking about," he said.

"Of course Lord Megatron," said Starscream quickly.

But Paige wasn't finished yet. With Ratchet denying that he cared for humans, it was up to her to defend her own life. "Not sure who would experiment on humans unless it was a Decepticon scientist or maybe it was a Quintessan. That might be trouble for you if they're still on the planet."

"Where did you hear of them?" asked Ratchet in genuine surprise while Megatron snarled.

"I know a lot of things Ratchet," said Paige feeling relief that they had heard of them. "You didn't actually care enough to ask though, did you?"

"Soundwave, escort our guest here to Knockout," said Megatron indicating Paige. "Perhaps she'll remember more details." Paige was pulled roughly out of the room. She smirked at Starscream's unhappy expression as she left. Megatron had been terrifying and Soundwave was just as bad, but Paige had long ago perfected her poker face so she'd freak out about being captured later.

Paige knew that Megatron would go on to convince Ratchet to work on the Synth-en formula. That meant she only had to survive Knockout long enough for Megatron to assign him as Ratchet's assistant.

xxxxxx

Paige was quickly dropped off in Knockout's lab. She was forced to sit on the nearest berth.

"You again," said Knockout scowling.

"That's my line," said Paige. The moment he turned away from her, she pulled her legs through her arms so that the cuffs were now in front of her. She needed her hands free in case she needed to defend herself.

When Knockout turned, he was startled to see the shackles in front of her despite knowing of her flexibility. "Let's see what you're made of," said Knockout advancing on her with a blade in hand.

"Oh, I wouldn't if I were you," she said quickly. "Organic biology is essentially a sack full of fluids and muscle. Puncture the sack and high velocity acidic fluids will spray everywhere and I've got a ton more than a normal sized human. Do that and say goodbye to your precious finish as well as the décor in your lab. You can try and wash it away as many times as you want, but with an Infrared light you'll still be able to detect it. It's one of the hardest to remove stains in existence. High velocity splatter is even worse."

Knockout visibly flinched pulling back his blade in hesitation.

"So now that you know that. You can answer one of my questions. You see I don't really care about your war or the reasons behind it, but isn't there someone here that can reason with your fearless leader. If he turns Earth into a second Cybertron, he'll unwittingly give Unicron his body back. The human race aside, you saw how Unicron formed those avatars out of stone and minerals. That's because the Earth has broken down his body over the eons. Now imagine an Earth sized Cybertronian with Unicron's temperament. What's the first thing he's going to do when he wakes up? I'll tell you. He'll go pick a fight with his brother who is in stasis. His brother Primus is the center of your planet in case you haven't studied your own history. Cybertron and Earth will be destroyed plus any other planets that Unicron decides to take out. You're all originally created from Primus so you'll probably be on the menu too. He'll probably use your offlined husks as part of his zombie army. Is that what your side wanted from this war because that's what's going to happen. Now you don't personally have to talk to Megatron, but I'd send someone to do it before everyone perishes for his mistake."

"Yea, that's not going to happen," said Knockout. "He'd literally shoot the messenger."

"If you had let Shockwave and Soundwave lead the Decepticons, you probably would have won the war already," said Paige continuing to distract him. "Starscream is a useless leader who is only ruthless when he has the upper hand. Putting him in the command structure was a mistake, but since the dark energon has control over Megatron, it's not really surprising that his processor was addled."

"What are you exactly?" asked Knockout narrowing his optics. "Humans shouldn't know this much information about us. I highly doubt the Autobots told you."

"I've got all sorts of information jammed in my brain. As far as I know, it's always been there. As for what I am, I'm just as human as any of the other inhabitants of Earth, but I somehow got turned into a giant. I'm shrinking now, but I'm not sure if I'll reach my real size and stop or if I'll continue to shrink. Think you've got it bad I can't even control my own body," said Paige sighing. "Look, I get you're curious and you can scan me as much as you want, but don't hurt me. You owe me one."

"How could I possibly owe you anything?" he asked.

"When you returned from stealing the fossil from us, were you punished?" asked Paige.

"No," said Knockout. "Of course not. I completed my mission."

"That's why you owe me," said Paige. "The bone you brought back wasn't the one from the museum, but obviously Megatron didn't realize that at the time. Most likely only Shockwave would have known."

"You tricked me," said Knockout.

"More importantly, I tricked Megatron and you escaped his wrath," said Paige. "You can lock me in a cell and use me as a hostage against the Autobots, but all I'm asking in return is that I remain unharmed. I know a lot of information that you might find useful too."

"You talk too much," said Knockout. "I should remove your tongue."

"Megatron sent me here so that you could get information," said Paige. "I can't talk without my tongue since I don't know sign language so feel free to tell him why you failed."

Knockout growled, but then he was interrupted by a comm from Megatron. He escorted Paige quickly to a cell in the brig and then went to the lab where Ratchet waited grumbling the whole way.


	19. Chapter 19

Paige cooled her heels in her cell. Luckily Shockwave and Knockout were preoccupied with Ratchet in the lab and Megatron had deemed that the Synth-en formula was more important than her. All she had to do was keep herself alive long enough for Ratchet to finish the formula and Optimus to find the location of the Nemesis with the help of Wheeljack's and Raf's creation. As long as she avoided any explosions during the fight, she'd live to see the end. If everything went as planned, Ratchet would escape and send the Predacon off to attack Megatron and the Autobots would launch a full attack on the Nemesis.

It was many hours later when Paige felt the ship rock as explosions erupted on the Nemesis. A few of the Vehicon guards had run by going off to join the battle. She looked up when a Vehicon was blasted past her cell and someone ran past. She heard the sound of crunching metal and then the bot ran past her cell again, stopped and then backtracked.

"Hey there kid," said Wheeljack looking in.

"Hi," said Paige waving.

"We were wondering what happened to you?" said Bulkhead coming up to stand next to him. "We didn't think the Cons would be interested in a human and we were hoping that you escaped."

"Well tall humans seem to be irresistible and Soundwave apparently decided I should visit," said Paige. "The accommodations could be better though."

Ultra Magnus came into view and shot open her cell door. Bulkhead pulled the door open so she could leave and she quickly followed them to the bridge. As much as she would have liked to see Megatron's defeat by Bumblebee, she didn't think there'd be any oxygen present out there. It was already thin enough on the ship and Wheeljack had to help support her on their way to the bridge when she started to become dizzy from oxygen deprivation.

xxxxxx

The battle was won and the power beam from the Omega Lock that had been constructed on the Nemesis blanketed the ship's screen with a brilliant blue glow. The cyber matter energon beam was sent straight into the Well of Allsparks and after a few moments, Cybertron began to slowly glow with power.

"Such luster," said Knockout from where he was standing on the bridge. When the Autobots turned to look at him, he said, "What? I'm joining the winning team."

Miko encased in the Apex armor promptly punched him effectively knocking him out. The Autobots and their allies watched as the surviving Predacon flew off the ship and into the rising sun.

"Good job," said Paige patting Ratchet's arm. "I knew you could do it. You sure have a lot of fight left in you for an old bot. Congrats on getting your world back."

"Well," stuttered Ratchet at a loss for how to respond.

"I'm just relieved they fell for all my lies. I didn't want to be the one to hold you back," said Paige looking out at Cybertron. She marveled at it. She was actually seeing another planet and it was beautiful. She could only imagine how Earth would look from space in person.

"Then what you said in the holding cell wasn't true," stated Ratchet. "You don't actually believe anything you said."

"Of course not Ratchet. I'm a far better liar than you are," she said smiling. "I don't even know if there was a relic that affected me. My knowledge of Quintessans comes from old stories like everything else and as for your temperament toward the kids, I'm sure it's not as disagreeable as you'd have the Decepticons believe."

Ratchet snorted.


	20. Chapter 20

"Though our home world is once again capable of supporting life, we have much rebuilding to do. Alas, we will miss our home away from home and the family we've made here," said Optimus.

"If Cons are still out there, won't Earth be on their radar?" asked Raf in concern.

"Raf, if you ever need me need us for any reason, we're just a spacebridge away," said Bumblebee.

"Besides we'll be in good hands with you, Jack and Miko continuing to serve unit E in a semi official capacity," said Agent Fowler.

"Whoa, we're agents!" exclaimed Miko.

"Consultants. Until you're of age," said June.

"I trust that unit E doesn't have any rules forbidding the enlistment of rusty old Autobot consultants," said Ratchet.

"Ratchet, you of all," said Arcee.

"Yip, yip," interrupted Ratchet. "I know where I am needed."

While the kids bid goodbye to their guardians, Paige went over to Smokescreen. "Take care of yourself. They may have need for a possible Prime in the future," said Paige.

"What about you?" asked Smokescreen.

"No worries, Ratchet will look after me until I'm back to my normal size," said Paige. "I'll have to make a life on this Earth because I don't really have a choice, but it's not that difficult. It doesn't differ that much from my own."

Paige then snuck over to Optimus. "The only loose end you need to tie up is Airachnid," said Paige. "She was contaminated with a combo of dark energon and incomplete synthetic energon and it turned her into an energon sucking vampire. Soundwave transported her to one of Cybertron's moons. I thought I'd warn you in case she survived."

"I will make a point to check," said Optimus.

"It was an honor to meet you Optimus and I know we won't likely be meeting again so I wanted you to know that those old stories I kept talking about were beloved to more people than you'll ever realize. Oh, some stories just the real good ones mind you continue well past their end," said Paige winking.

xxxxxx

On Cybertron, the Autobots had their hands full with the Predacons, the remaining Decepticons and a Unicron controlled Megatron who had decided to destroy Primus. They managed to pull through with a victory, but at a high cost.

On Earth, Paige was sitting in Ratchet's hand as he left the hanger after his return and the subsequent loss of Optimus. She was nearly back down to her old height now.

"I know it's difficult and it will take time, but Optimus Prime's story isn't over. Ratchet, the next time you see him won't be in the Well," said Paige looking up at the stars.

"More prophecy rubbish?" asked Ratchet rubbing a finger gently down her back.

"Stories," said Paige smirking. "And for some of you, this was only the beginning."

Behind her, Ratchet's lips turned up in a small smile.


	21. Chapter 21

Paige would have stayed with Ratchet for as long as she could, but eventually he was recalled to Cybertron again. She had regained her health by then with only the slightest permanent loss of movement in some of the fingers on her left hand. That wasn't the worse of her problems because when she hit her normal height of 5'8, it didn't take her long to realize that she was still shrinking. She cried into her pillow the whole night after because she now knew that she was going to disappear like Ant Man. She didn't want Ratchet to mourn her so she made her goodbyes the next time she saw him. She was only 5'1 at the time.

Using Fowler's connections, government scientists placed her in a small sterile room so that she could be monitored as she continued to shrink and so she wouldn't come to harm. As the days went by, feet became inches and the details of the pores in the floor became clearer. Her clothes were left behind and she ended up in her original underwear and her flats again as it was the only thing that still shrunk with her. She was finally placed in a clear plastic container that was set up like a dollhouse, but eventually she shrunk so much that she couldn't use any of the miniature furniture. One day the scientists could no longer detect her even with a microscope and figured that she was finally gone for good. For Paige the adventure that had started with a blinding light ended with pitch darkness.

Xxxxxx

Paige woke to see a smooth speckled surface beneath her. She lifted her head as she heard a loud booming voice say "Rusty, did you find the meteor?"

"No, I found them," responded a younger voice though equally as loud.

"Is there a back door to this place because you might need one," said a third voice.

"Talking robot car," said the first voice again.

"Uh, huh," agreed the younger.

Paige pulled herself to her knees and looked around. Tall clear windows the size of skyscrapers took up one wall. She was sitting on a flat smooth surface that stretched before her, but dropped off on either side a distance away. She quickly pulled herself to her feet. Near her were two towering vessels. The closest was filled with large white cubes and the other had large brown flakes. They were saltshakers, she realized in horror. She was barely half the size of them. She looked over at the towering giants that stood near a huge door wondering if she'd sounded like that when she was that big. She looked up to see the familiar face of a gigantic yellow bot appear in doorway. Suddenly she was knocked off her feet by an impact that rocked the building and the glass in the window shattered making her grab her ears to block out the noise. "You have got to be kidding me," said Paige.


	22. Chapter 22

Paige's shock at ending up in the sequel to Transformers Prime was quickly overshadowed by her dismay with her own circumstances. She was probably two inches tall and stuck in the middle of a scrapyard. A scrapyard filled with all sorts of interesting things if she was normal height, but for her tiny self it was full of threats: bugs, rats, wild animals, chemicals and rampaging bots. She shuddered at the thought of all the ways that she could easily die here.

The first thing she needed to do was alert someone to her presence. She didn't think they'd be able to hear her even if she yelled and she didn't want to risk them swiping her off the counter on reflex if they thought she was a bug. The bots were too big to enter the diner and she didn't fully trust Fix-it to handle her carefully when he was still injured himself. She looked around the counter for something to use. Salt was too transparent to form a visible message that they would see straight away and she wasn't going to use pepper. If she got covered in it at this size, she'd either have a bad reaction or possibly sneeze herself off the counter. That's when she spotted the toothpicks. They were about as long as her and they looked more like branches than toothpicks, but she'd probably be able to pick them up. Luckily Grimlock's collision with the diner had knocked the container on its side. She went over and quickly got to work.

Denny entered the diner in order to clean up the broken glass early the next day. He noticed that the toothpicks were strewn on the counter. He used a hand to drag them all into a pile. He'd stick them back in the holder later. He got busy cleaning up the rest of the broken glass and then went and knocked on the trailer in order to get Rusty up.

Paige huffed in frustration and started to rebuild her message as quickly as she could. After she was finished, she ran to the saltshakers to hide.

Russell walked into the diner with his bowl of cereal as he chatted with Sideswipe. He put his bowl on the counter when his attention was dragged to the toothpicks on the counter. They were spelling out a message. "Dad!" called Russell looking out the missing window. "Did you leave a message in toothpicks?" asked Russell.

"Wasn't me," said Denny walking by.

"What's it say?" asked Sideswipe peering in curiously.

"SOS Paige – Bee," said Russell. "SOS means help and Bee might mean Bumblebee, but who is Paige?" Outside, Sideswipe got Bumblebee's attention and Russell emerged from the diner. "Do you know who Paige is?" asked Russell.

"She was a human I knew briefly a long time ago," said Bumblebee in surprise. "How do you know about her?"

"I found a message in the toothpicks," said Russell gesturing to the diner. He explained what it said.

"It can't be," said Bumblebee.

"What's wrong Lieutenant?" asked Strongarm.

"How could she be here? Did you see her?" asked Bumblebee looking into the diner through the broken window.

"There's no one in there," said Russell.

"Paige had an unusual ability," said Bumblebee. "She could shrink. We never did figure out what was causing it."

"Shrinking, like shrinking, shrinking?" asked Denny moving his hands closer together.

"So she's tiny," said Sideswipe.

"Possibly," said Bumblebee shrugging. "Probably."

Russell went back into the diner and looked at the counter. That's when he spotted Paige. She was standing in front of the saltshaker, which made her stand out next to the white crystals. "I found her," he called. He stepped over and offered a hand.

Paige climbed carefully onto the strong yet spongy surface of his hand. She sat down in his palm hands spread to steady herself as he walked outside the diner.

"She sure is tiny," said Denny peering at her.

"Primus," said Bumblebee. "How could you be here?"

Paige shrugged even though she wasn't sure he could see it.

"You know," said Denny. "I might have something she could use." He went off into the scrapyard and returned with a metal dollhouse. He put it on the counter and Russell let Paige down so she could enter.

Paige walked into the dollhouse and looked up to see a multitude of eyes look at her. Coming face to face with a large spider in a haunted house is scary, doing it with a real one that is nearly your size is traumatizing. The spider's mandibles moved and Paige ran out the door like the devil was after her. She stopped a ways away and pointed at the house. Denny tipped the house and then noticed the spider.

"I'll take care of that," he said. "I think I have some air in a can I use to get rid of the dust too." He took the house with him as he exited the diner.

Outside, Bumblebee was deep in thought.

"So what's the story with Tiny?" asked Sideswipe nodding his head toward the diner.

The others were gathered around as well all curious about the tiny newcomer.

"When I first met Paige, it was during the war and she was huge," said Bumblebee.

Russell laughed as he looked at the tiny woman.

"She couldn't have been bigger than me," boasted Grimlock.

"When I say huge, I mean giant. She was over three times the size of Grimlock back then. She appeared out of nowhere one day and ran into one of our comrades Cliffjumper. She helped us during the fight with Megatron and even took on Starscream by herself. We don't know how she got so big, but she started to shrink and she never stopped. Ratchet, our medic, never found out what caused it and she ended of shrinking so much she disappeared," explained Bumblebee. "Why she is here or how it's even possible, I have no idea."

Denny finally returned with a pest free dollhouse and Paige made sure there were no more bugs inside. There was a family of dolls inside, but she was only the same size as the baby doll so she was forced to dress in the baby doll's red and white striped jumper. She needed proper clothes and it was the only thing that would really fit. As embarrassing as it was, at least there were fewer humans to witness her humiliation here. She was already eyeing both the mother and father's clothes for when she was bigger providing she would get bigger. She certainly hoped that would be the case.

Denny set her up with several small plastic cups. One had water, one had what looked like cereal or trail mix and the empties she used for sanitary purposes and to cover the other two to keep the bugs out. The inhabitants of the scrapyard knew she was here now, but she knew she wouldn't be able to assist at her current size.

Denny had placed Paige's house on the diner counter and she sat on the doll furniture and watched the bots move around in the scrapyard. She was slightly concerned because while she had seen the episodes for the sequel it had been a long time ago and only a few episodes and the general story line stuck with her. Her eyes were drawn to Bumblebee as he walked by without a glance and she knew that she would have to tread lightly because she didn't want her presence to affect Bumblebee negatively. While it may not have been far into the future, enough time had passed that Cybertron had been rebuilt and the original human crew from Transformers Prime was likely retired or dead. Her presence alone had probably stirred up old memories and he really couldn't afford to be distracted.

In considering how to change things, a few ideas popped into her head. It would help if when Jazz arrived, that he could take some of the prisoners with him. It would put him in danger, but that would make one less on Earth. Ratchet needed to fix Fix-it while he was here as well. The reason why he had left so quickly didn't make sense to her and she felt saddened that he'd been exiled from Cybertron. Paige glanced over at the post it notes and the small stubby pencil that was left so she could write messages. She wrestled the pencil over to the paper. There was something she needed from Fix-it.


	23. Chapter 23

Paige had to admit that the bots looked completely different from how they appeared in the cartoon. While some of Bumblebee's features were definitely different, he still had close to the same look from before. Sideswipe wasn't nearly as pointy or angular as he'd been portrayed and Grimlock was much sleeker and more terrifying looking. That also meant that the Cons were more dangerous looking. Paige watched as the bots brought back Sharkticon. She had to laugh when Grimlock punched the barrel that was holding him. Grimlock might look dangerous now, but his attitude was still very playful. They also brought in Chop Shop and some other Cons over the next two weeks. Bumblebee seemed to be struggling to keep his team together, but when they were watching the news on the television in the diner, she knew he'd be gaining a confidence boost when the news reporter did a segment on the pod that held TerrorShock. The bots, Denny and Russell left to go to the Crown City Museum of Natural History and Sciences to retrieve it.

By now much to her delight Paige had nearly doubled in size and she had switched her clothes for the mother dolls silver sequined dress, as the baby's outfit was now too snug. Why the vintage housewife doll was wearing a sequined dress, she didn't know. Maybe the advertisers back in the day were trying to glamorize being a housewife and were trying to appeal to them. Housewives did tend to be the shoppers back in the early years.

Paige needed a way to move around without being in danger and she wrote and asked Russell for his help. She could only look at him incredulously when he brought her a clear hamster ball. It wasn't like she would be trapped in it because there was a door that she could get open, but having to walk around in a hamster ball was ridiculous. It was better than nothing she supposed and at least she could move around freely. She had had it much worse when she was a giant and stuck in a cave. She still had to watch out for the bots and any potholes while she was out so she didn't go too far, but at least she could explore the scrapyard a little. Bumblebee had tried extremely hard not to laugh at her when he first saw it, but he couldn't help it and burst out in laughter. Paige could tell that the others were amused as well and she really couldn't hold it against them.

While she had a general sense of what was going on, there was nothing she could currently do about it. She had seen Strongarm demonstrate the Decepticon Hunter on Denny's vintage fridges leaving them in pieces, but she never knew which episode they were on until Fix-it looked up the Con in the database. At that point usually the team was already out dealing with it. Unless their behavior gave it away, Paige supposed that she'd just have to wait until she got bigger if she wanted to interfere.


	24. Chapter 24

Paige was out one morning walking in her hamster ball when a signal must have come in because the bots were suddenly getting ready to leave. Grimlock was pleading with Bumblebee to take him with, but Bumblebee wouldn't hear of it because it was too close to civilization and Grimlock didn't have an inconspicuous altmode. Grimlock suddenly jumped into a pile of parts without warning sending Paige and her hamster ball flying into Denny's face. He caught the hamster ball and looked at her in surprise. Luckily she was on the side he was holding so she didn't get thrown to the opposite side when the ball abruptly stopped.

"You need to be more careful around Grimlock?" he said holding the ball in front of him. He placed the ball down on the suitcase he had sitting next to him. He was already prepared to go with the bots.

Paige just shook her head and sighed. It should be obvious that she hadn't put herself in the way on purpose. Grimlock was simply reckless and energetic. Paige sighed again and looked down. She wished she could climb walls with this thing because that would be kind of cool, but she was still restricted by a natural law called gravity. That meant that she couldn't simply roll off the suitcase because falling from this height would still hurt or possibly injure her so she unlatched the door and stepped out onto the case before pushing it off. The hamster ball landed on the ground and rolled a few feet away. The sun had been beating down on the hamster ball making it hot and she needed some fresh air anyway. She was going to start climbing down the suitcase to the ground when suddenly it started to move. Denny had grabbed the handle and was rushing to get into Strongarm. Paige yelled at him, but he didn't hear her. Strongarm immediately took off following the other bots and Denny finally noticed her clinging to the zipper on top of the bag.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise. "You're not going to be safe there," said Denny after a moment. He reached down, scooped her up and placed her in the pocket on his Hawaiian shirt.

"What's wrong?" asked Strongarm.

"Looks like Paige tagged along," said Denny. "No worries I've got her in my pocket."

Denny had been out in the scrapyard this morning so Paige was assaulted by the unpleasant odor of sweat. She really couldn't complain though because she was partially responsible for ending up in this situation. She had taken many showers and baths when she was giant, but she wondered if she had smelled as bad to the kids and Autobots. She sincerely hoped not and soon after she became immune to the scent of sweat as her nose became desensitized.

"Look," said Strongarm suddenly.

Denny gasped and Paige cringed in realization. The large bird transformer in front of them was Filch, she realized. Filch was the most animalistic of the Decepticons and would steal anything shiny. I'm doomed, thought Paige looking at the sequined dress she was wearing.

The bots quickly transformed while Denny stayed behind them.

"Quick before she," said Bumblebee running toward Filch.

Unfortunately, she managed to pull the support beam from the bridge and Bumblebee grabbed onto it keeping her from leaving. The bridge started to crack as they played tug of war over the support beam.

"Stabilize the bridge," called Bumblebee. Sideswipe jumped off of it to do just that. Strongarm started to read one of her regulations, but was cut off by Bumblebee. "Write me up later," he said. Strongarm reluctantly joined Sideswipe in holding up the bridge. "Denny, don't let anyone back on the bridge," said Bumblebee.

"On it," said Denny. A police car pulled up suddenly and Denny ran toward it. "Look out," yelled Denny as the cop car slammed on its brakes. Paige ducked down in his pocket so she wouldn't be seen. "Hi officer," he greeted.

"What the heck is going on here?" asked the officer.

"Nevada Fleeber from the Witchihoma County exotic bird park opening next May. Can you set up a temporary roadblock?" asked Denny.

"A roadblock. Why in the name of Sam Hill do we need a roadblock?" asked the officer.

"One of our larger specimens got loose," said Denny stepping to the side so the officer could see Filch. "Our high tech robot keepers will recapture it and take care of the bridge."

The officer gaped at the size of the bird. "One roadblock coming up," said the officer as he backed up and quickly sped away.

Bumblebee was still fighting with Filch and Denny ran up behind him. "Bee, bridge is clear," yelled Denny. "Anyone asks you're a zookeeper."

Suddenly Filch turned knocking Bumblebee off the bridge and caught sight of both the shiny badge on Denny's hat and Paige's sequins. "Shiny," said Filch swooping at Denny. Paige hunkered down in Denny's pocket and anchored herself in the cloth as Filch went higher and higher. If she fell now, she was dead and it was unlikely they would ever discover her body. Of course that was contingent on the size changes only affecting her while she was alive. If her corpse kept growing, someone was going to get an unpleasant surprise. Denny wasn't moving anymore so he must have passed out. Paige cautiously poked her head out to see that they were nearing the statue's hand where Filch kept her collection. As they passed over it, despite her reservations Paige began to climb up to Denny's shoulder. She needed to get on his back before he was dropped or he would squish her when he landed. She made it to his shoulder when Filch let go. She screamed as air streamed past her as she fell, but thankfully the landing was soft as she landed on Denny. She shakily pushed herself to her knees and looked up to see Filch eyeing her.

"Shiny," said Filch before closing her beak over Paige. Paige sat in Filch's mouth in disbelief before she was spat out into a small nest of small shiny objects. It looked like she was sitting in a large gold decorative bowl of some sort. Where Filch had gotten it was anybody's guess. It wasn't something you'd typically find outdoors. Inside the bowl, were a ring, a marble, a necklace, a few screws, a strand of garland and a set of keys. It seemed like Filch liked to separate the tiny shiny things from the bigger mess. Filch then moved off probably to deal with Denny. Paige refused to move from where she was and used the garland to protect herself from the sun. She could see the surrounding area quite well from her position as the bowl was sitting on top of a large silver RV. Paige didn't like heights so she wasn't going anywhere near the edge. Not long after she heard Denny talking to Filch and him sending her off to the recycling plant for more shiny things. Filch took off with a screech and then she heard Denny say, "Low battery, I knew I shouldn't have played all that Sudoku."

Awhile later, Paige heard Filch screech again and the sounds of battle drifted up from below. Sideswipe peered over the side of the lower nest and said, "Ooh, shiny."

"Funny," replied Denny sarcastically.

"Look out below," yelled Sideswipe throwing the bridge support down where it nailed Filch in the head and knocked her out. "Let's get you down," said Sideswipe turning to Denny.

"Wait," said Denny turning his pocket out in a panic. "Where's Paige? Don't tell me I squished her or she fell out."

"She was with you?" asked Sideswipe scanning the junk pile.

In order to get their attention, Paige pushed the marble out of the bowl causing it to clink on its way down. Sideswipe turned his head trying to track the noise. Paige pushed out the screws next followed by the set of keys. Sideswipe was making his way closer to her, but he hadn't spotted her yet. She pushed the necklace over and then threw the garland keeping the end anchored in the bowl. She shook it causing him to see the movement.

"I see her," he said as he started to climb up the RV.

Paige stepped into the ring pulling it up around her like a belt. She wanted to take it with her because she had a use for it. She quickly stepped into Sideswipe's hand when he offered it. "Tiny, you're pretty daring," said Sideswipe cradling her carefully. He jumped down into the junk pile and Paige let out a shriek. She was not looking forward to the climb down. It was very high for Denny so at her height it would be even farther. Sideswipe must have realized this because he popped open a compartment in his chest and slid her in. It was probably the glove compartment in his altmode if he had one that is, but she didn't care. She didn't want to be in Denny's position on the way down. Either he would be clinging to Sideswipe on the way down or Sideswipe would be climbing one handed down the whole way. She shivered to think of it.

She felt the impact as Sideswipe touched down and then he transformed around her. She ended up on his passenger seat, but he didn't pull the seatbelt over her because she was too small. "Hold on," he said as his speed pressed her back against the seat. "We're headed back."

When they arrived at the scrapyard, they had to sneak in while Denny distracted Larry, a fellow collector, who had tried to sneak in earlier to scope out Denny's collection with a video camera. As soon as Larry left, Sideswipe reached through the window of the diner and gently deposited Paige on the counter so she could go to her home. She wrote a note and left the ring next to it for Denny before she walked into her house and collapsed on the bed. The note read: Denny, the ring is my thank you. I'll likely be here for a while longer. Paige knew enough about diamonds to know that the diamond in the ring was real. It looked like someone's engagement ring. Hopefully Filch had simply found a lost one instead of stealing someone's before they proposed. It made her think back to the days before all this craziness had started when she had found an engagement ring in her boyfriend's drawer while putting away laundry. She had been excited at first, but as more and more time went by without a proposal, she had realized that either it was an heirloom or that he was far from ready. While the initial breakup had been over the cat, the ring was simply another nail in his coffin.


	25. Chapter 25

Paige realized that the tiny Decepticon, Minitron, had taken control of Grimlock the moment he started attacking the other bots, but no matter what she did she couldn't gain anyone's attention so she let them figure it out themselves. Grimlock restrained himself when Minitron tried to make him attack Russel and Paige quickly hid so that Minitron wouldn't try to force him to attack her. She knew that Grimlock doted on Russel like most of the other bots, but she was still an uncertain player in their midst and he might not have enough restraint where it concerned her. Grimlock and the other bots quickly left the scrapyard. When Grimlock returned, now free of Minitron's control, he was made an official Autobot much to his delight. The bots all came back with more dents than they left with, but at least they were victorious and Minitron joined their collection of frozen Cons.

Not long after, Denny and Fix-it had a fixing war that misplaced items and short circuited others. Paige stayed in the safety of her house and out of their way because she remembered the episode and no amount of shouting or talking was going to deter the two morons. Regardless of the species, hardheaded idiocy was universal. So instead of watching them fight, she went back into the house and secluded herself. She clearly remembered that the only good thing that resulted from this episode was that in the end they would decide to replicate the Decepticon Hunters, which the Autobots would need in the future if they hoped to save Earth and Cybertron once again. Paige looked up at the ceiling above her and sighed. The ceiling was far closer than it had been before. It wouldn't be long before she outgrew this house, but that would also mean that she'd need new clothes.

Paige was in heaven. Russel had stopped up the sink in the trailer and made it into a bubble bath for her. It was shallow enough for her to stand in, but she could still swim from one side to the other. She hadn't had a real bath in forever so she relaxed in the water until the water became tepid and then got out and dried off with the wash cloth that was towel size for her. When Russel finally came in to retrieve her, he brought her laundered underclothes and a dress that had obviously come off a Barbie. The dress was a bright pink spaghetti strap gown with three layers of ruffles over the pink billowing skirt. It wasn't something she would ever wear even as a Halloween costume, but beggars can't be choosers. The dress didn't entirely fit because she hadn't quite reached the correct height yet so she simply knotted the straps to pull it up more and picked up the edge of her skirt every time she walked. She was now at the size where she could be heard if she was held near their ears and she was yelling, but she kept it to a minimum so she wouldn't damage her vocal cords.

She was in the trailer with Denny as she had now outgrown the doll house when Denny stuck his head out the door and yelled for Russel. He and the bots were in the diner watching a movie.

"Russel, time to pack it in," called Denny.

A few moments later Russel entered the trailer yawning. Paige settled down to sleep on a folded towel on the counter, but suddenly they were all disturbed by the sounds of a struggle outside. Paige latched onto Russel's shoulder as he passed by and they quickly left the trailer. They all looked over to see a new bot surrounded by the others. Sideswipe was sitting on the ground.

"Jazz," said Bumblebee in recognition.

"Bee," said Jazz retracting his visor. "What are you doing in this dump?"

"Whoa," said Denny covering Russel's ears. "Watch the language!"

"It's a scrapyard Jazz," said Bumblebee for Denny's benefit. "Nicest one on this planet."

"Don't get too close," said Jazz gesturing to Sideswipe. "This one thinks he's dangerous."

"His name is Sideswipe and he's with me," said Bumblebee.

Jazz gave Sideswipe a hand up off the ground and he reluctantly accepted. "Whatever, he just caught me off guard," said Sideswipe. "What do you call that takedown?"

"I don't know actually. I was just going with the flow," said Jazz. "Hey Bee, you know anything about a prison ship name the Alchemor? The big bots on Cybertron sent me to check out a distress call," said Jazz.

"Actually, I know a lot about it," said Bumblebee. "One day I'm on patrol in Kaon city and the next," continued Bumblebee as he led Jazz into the open area by the diner where he continued to fill him in on what was going on.

"That's Jazz. Thee Jazz," said a starstruck Sideswipe.

"Jazz is cool," agreed Paige from Russel's shoulder.

"So you've met him before?" asked Denny.

"No, but I've heard a lot about him," said Paige shrugging. "He's a good bot." Paige huffed suddenly. "Russel, can you please bring me back inside?"

"Sure," he said heading for the trailer. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," said Paige. Paige already had a bias against the High Council on Cybertron from watching the show, but now her anger flared up because they had sent a single bot to investigate a prison ship distress call. It was common sense that you didn't send out a distress call unless there was a dire need and their lackluster response just showed how weak the Council actually was. They were so tied up in petty internal affairs that they were allowing the external ones to fester. It was the reason Starscream and several other dangerous Decepticons still moved freely in the universe. There was a threat building against Cybertron from the outside this time and they were ignoring it. Paige could plainly see Cybertron heading for another war sometime in the near future and it made her heart ache for her Cybertronian friends. After all they'd been through, trouble was heading their way once again.

Paige woke the next morning to the sound of the Decepticon digger, Ped, attacking the scrapyard in order to steal all the Autobot's energon. After the noise had quieted down, Russel came in to take a shower because he was covered from head to toe in dirt. He had almost been pulled into one of Ped's collapsing holes, but was saved by the bots. Denny came in as well and explained what had happened. He told her that the bots had gone out to look for Ped.

Later after the bots returned, they set a trap for Ped by building a wall of real and fake energon in front of a stasis pod. Paige sat in the diner watching the show as there was no reason for her to interfere here. When he finally arrived, Ped acted like the Graboids in the movie Tremors as the ground under the energon shook and then stilled. No one was sure where he'd come up and they all looked around silently. Suddenly all the bots were pulled down into a deep hole that opened beneath them. It took a few minutes, but Sideswipe managed to escape and keep Ped busy while Denny used his magnetic crane to pull the others out of the hole with the exception of Grimlock. The cable on the crane had snapped before he could be freed. Sideswipe continued to insult Ped luring him to the stasis pod. He was going to sacrifice himself in order to trap the Con, but some intervention from Jazz allowed the two of them to escape and Denny finished Ped off by dropping the crane magnet on his head.

"My ship's a couple of klicks away," said Jazz. "I'll clean up your mess with the council when I get back."

Paige left the diner quickly and knocked on Strongarm's foot armor to get her attention. Strongarm bent down to pick her up.

"I have something to say," said Paige focusing on Jazz. "I have a message for your High Council. You may want to record this," said Paige straightening as her pink skirt billowed around her in the wind. When he nodded at her, she started. "I, the human Paige, representative of Earth have a message for Cybertron's High Council that Earth is not happy about this debacle. First off, when Optimus Prime's original team left here after protecting Earth and saving Cybertron, they made a promise that we could call on them if any Cybertronian issues arose on Earth again. That is the sole reason that Lieutenant Bumblebee and the others are here and you need to remove any unjust sanctions that you've leveled at them. Humans are short lived so we couldn't wait for you, the High Council, to take its time on an issue that is solely Cybertron's responsibility. It was your prison ship with your dangerous criminals that crashed onto our planet. Our people are in danger because of it and the Cybertronian allies currently here on Earth are the only thing standing in the way of Earth's decimation by rogue Decepticons. Perhaps you think that humans are not worth saving and you may keep your discriminatory opinions to yourself, but I will remind you of one very important fact. Earth is Unicron's prison. Should the Decepticon's plans come to fruition, Unicron will be inadvertently revived and he'll be coming for Cybertron next. So as a farewell, I wish you good luck because you're going to need it."

Finished, Paige turned to see the other bots around her gaping at her. "What?" she said shrugging. "You needed more of an excuse than a unilateral decision. You needed a legit reason to be here and now you've got one. It's far more plausible than Optimus sending you here truth or not. You're protecting Earth and I'm grateful for that. The High Council can go jump in a smelting pit for all I care."

"You don't know the council," protested Bumblebee.

"I see the results of their policies and I'm not impressed," said Paige. "You'll see some more of the damage they do in the near future as well."

Bumblebee frowned and Jazz looked at her in confusion.

"I'm not sure I follow," said Jazz.

"Ever since Paige first appeared back during the war, it was like she knew the future," said Bumblebee. "She correctly predicted what was going to happen on more than one occasion. Please don't mention that to the Council."

"Interesting," said Jazz examining Paige closer.

"I'm sorry if you have friends on the Council, but when a dire emergency call from a prison ship was received, all the Council did was send one bot to investigate after all this time. No offense Jazz. I'm not trying to diminish your capabilities, but it's obvious the the Council is not taking this seriously," said Paige. "One bot against a full prison ship is not acceptable."

"No offense taken," replied Jazz.

"The point is that those on Earth that know you're here are grateful for you and your team Bee," said Paige catching Bumblebee's attention again.

"I agree," said Denny from below. "We'd be in a whole lot of trouble without you."

Bumblebee rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and Sideswipe, Strongarm and Grimlock straightened in pride at the compliment.

"Can you take Minitron, Filch and Ped with you when you leave?" asked Paige shifting her attention back to Jazz. "It would serve as proof of the situation as well as reduce the number of Cons on Earth. As you might have noticed, the scrapyard isn't exactly a secure place." Paige knew that those three didn't appear in the later episodes so removing them wouldn't change anything.

"I think I can handle that," said Jazz.

"The only one you have to worry about escaping is Minitron since he'll try to control you," said Paige. "But I'm sure a mech with your reputation has the intelligence and means to protect himself." Strongarm passed her down to Denny at her urging so they could head inside for the night. Paige rubbed her sore throat. She couldn't wait to be bigger so that she could be heard without yelling. She glanced down at her dress and grimaced at the thought that it was now immortalized on a Cybertronian video. The message was being delivered, but hopefully they wouldn't think that all Earthlings dressed like her.

"I like her," said Jazz to Bumblebee. "And her testimony will definitely help your case."

"Safe travels," said Bumblebee clasping his arm.


	26. Chapter 26

Things were normal for a while, Bumblebee went on a childish pranking streak once he was hit by Quillfire's spines, but not much else happened until the Autobot's brought some guests home. Paige couldn't contain a groan when Drift, Jetstorm and Slipstream showed up. Naturally she was ignored by Drift and Bumblebee didn't elaborate on her presence or size much to her relief. Knowing Drift's background from other shows made her more wary around him and she knew that he was only here to repay a life debt to Bumblebee for saving him from Fracture. It was going to take time, but he'd eventually get used to being on the team in the future. Unfortunately, if they were here, then so were Fracture and his mini-cons. Paige couldn't remember their names though it wasn't like it mattered. The bounty hunters showing up was like poking a sore spot because she was pretty steamed that a bounty was still on Bumblebee's head in the first place. Either the High Council hadn't taken her message seriously or they had already instated the bounty before they received it. When the bounty had been placed didn't matter, it was the reason why there were still bounty hunters out trying to capture Bumblebee and Paige couldn't help feeling bitter about it. Bumblebee had been a hero, but he was being treated like a villain despite both her and Jazz's efforts. One day she hoped he'd be free from all this and have the chance to be happy, but according to the series that would be much much farther in the future if ever. She quickly asked Denny to take her back to the trailer as she didn't want to be underfoot when Fracture attacked them.

"So, do you know him?" asked Denny curiously as he carried her inside and set her on the counter.

"Drift is a bounty hunter, but before that he used to be under the tutelage of some master of some ninja art or maybe it was samurai techniques going by the way he looks. I'm not quite sure about that, but regardless things happened, his master died and he's left to continue the legacy by training his two mini-cons," said Paige sitting down. "Personally I don't particularly care for him and he doesn't have the best reputation, but he's done the solo thing for a long time and it will take him time to adjust to working with a team. He'd definitely be an asset and you can trust him. I would suggest being civil and as accommodating as you can with him. I know it's going to be hard."

"He's just a little," said Denny hesitating.

"Uptight, dismissive, inflexible, a jerk," Paige supplied.

"Something like that," said Denny chuckling.

"His past aside," said Paige sighing. "He now has two mini-cons to care for and they have no one else to rely on. I know you know how that is. Just give him a chance." She may not have cared for Drift, but she had no reason to make his life or this situation more difficult.

"I'll do my best," said Denny resolutely.

"Oh, please tell Bumblebee that Fracture won't give up," she said. "This isn't the last time we'll see him."

"Will do," said Denny as he headed out the door.

It was night when Fracture attacked and the sounds of fighting woke Paige up, but she didn't leave the trailer. Slipstream and Jetstorm would have Russel's back and the bots would obviously win. If one Decepticon could successfully take down so many Autobots, then there'd be no hope for them in the future. The one good thing out of the situation was the fact that they gained Fracture's ground bridge. Drift left with the mini-cons shortly after, but she knew they'd be seeing them again.


	27. Chapter 27

Denny and Fix-it came through and created two more Decepticon hunters which came in handy when the bots encountered Steeljaw and his band of Decepticons.

At the moment however Paige was in the diner with Russel watching some C level horror movie that hadn't existed on her Earth. There was probably a reason for that because it was really bad though some of the ones from her dimension were probably comparable. Denny, Fix-it and Bumblebee had left to search for a nearby energon signal they had detected while the rest of the bots were behind them watching the movie as well.

"Did you hear something out there?" asked Strongarm glancing over at the scrapyard.

Paige couldn't recall if it was a Con or if Strongarm was simply hearing the owl that hooted in the distance.

"Who can tell. The human on screen has been screaming for ten minutes straight. Doesn't she ever stop to breathe?" asked Sideswipe in annoyance.

Grimlock whimpered as the suspense built.

"Shush," said Russel putting his finger to his lips. "This is the best part."

Paige quickly averted her eyes as the gruesome scene played out while the bots flinched back in shock. Sure they'd been in battle before, but it was probably disturbing for them to see the bloody mess that an organic became when attacked. It was disgusting to her so they had to be grossed out.

"I know cool right?" said Russell happily.

"That didn't frighten you?" asked Strongarm in surprise.

"What can I say nothing scares me. I'm going for more popcorn," said Russel quickly heading to the trailer.

"Me either," Sideswipe said as he coughed in order to lower the tone of his voice.

"Russel must be made of stone," said Grimlock.

"Nah, he's blowing exhaust about nothing scaring him," said Sideswipe shaking his head.

"You're one to talk," said Strongarm pointedly. "You shiver every time there's light traffic."

"Hey," protested Sideswipe. "A bot has got to keep moving."

"I bet we could scare him if we really tried," said Grimlock with a smile.

"Good luck with that," said Paige from where she sat.

When Russel returned, it was obvious that the bot's attempts to scare him didn't work. It was just too obvious that they were still the bots even if they were dressed up as scary characters. Paige had to give Grimlock the most credit because if she didn't know who he was, she'd be running the other way. The disguises were laughable though given that they'd thrown them together in a rush.

Denny, Fix-it and Bumblebee returned with the energon cubes that they had discovered and interrupted them before the movie could continue. The other bots stacked the cubes when the alarm sounded indicating that another Decepticon had been located. Paige remembered this episode acutely especially because it came before the one episode she whole heartedly hated. This episode had been inventive unlike the one that followed. Paige went with Bumblebee and Fix-it when they left while Denny and Russel went with Strongarm.

"I don't remember his name, but I remember him," said Paige looking at Bumblebee's lighted dash. "The Con you're going to face uses a sonic scream weapon that immobilizes any bot in his way. Then he sticks you in a secretion that essentially gives you nightmares while he drains the energon from his victim." If she actually thought about it, the Con was pretty sadistic. It was like a vampire and to make it worse he tortured bots with their worse fears while he drained their life energy. She didn't want the bots subjected to that if she could change it.

Fix-it had been looking through the portable hand held database and quickly matched it to Nightstrike.

"All you can do is turn off your audios Bumblebee," said Paige. "I know it will make you more vulnerable, but if he knocks you all out, he'll have the advantage."

"We'll do what we can," said Bumblebee reassuringly. "Thank you for telling me."

"I want something in return," said Paige boldly.

"What is it?" asked Bumblebee in surprise.

"On the next mission I want to go with Sideswipe. I'll tell you more details later, but I have to be there," she said adamantly.

"I don't know," said Bumblebee uncertainly. "Paige, you shouldn't put yourself in danger especially at your size."

"Please," begged Paige close to tears. "It will literally destroy me if I can't stop what's going to happen next. I hate it. I hate him." She curled up and started rocking herself on his seat.

"Is that why you asked me to fake, cake, make those items for you," stuttered Fix-it.

Paige merely nodded.

"Wait, what did you make for her?" asked Bumblebee. He didn't get to hear the answer because they had arrived and both Fix-it and Paige exited so he could transform. He would have to ask her later what they were talking about. Right now he had more important things to worry about.

The Autobots used the luminescent paint Denny provided them with to mark their paths as they entered the cave. Denny followed them in while Paige, Fix-it and Russel waited outside. Just like on the show, their signals started to disappear one by one and Fix-it started to panic and imagine all sorts of unlikely scenarios while Russel tried to calm him down. Eventually, Nightstrike left the cave and attacked Fix-it picking him up and snatching Denny who had been exiting the cave at the time. Russel with Paige's urging also entered the cave soon after.

This situation certainly brought back memories of other caves for Paige. This one was very dark and if she didn't know what was in it, she wouldn't have ventured in especially at night. Paige knew that Russel would locate the others so she let him lead. She had to dodge out of the way when he fell back after being startled by the shadow of a mouse, but they still made good time.

When they finally found the bots, they were mostly encased in a what looked like dark underwater lava tubes. Denny caught sight of them as they quickly hid behind a rock formation. "There's a rescue mission coming for us," said Denny confidently as he continued talking to Nightstrike.

"I doubt that, but if someone is coming, I'd better prepare," he said. He flew out of the room and Russel ran over to his Dad while Paige ran behind the bots and started to climb up Strongarm's tube.

"You found us," exclaimed Denny. "You are one amazing!"

"Later," said Russel cutting him off. "Let's get you loose first." He picked up a sharp rock and started to hack at the tube cutting the organic sack pretty easily. Denny grimaced at the blue fluids that now covered him. Just then Nightstrike came back into the room and landed in front of them.

"This is your rescue," stated Nightstrike blandly looking at Russel.

Russel tossed the rock up and took off running. "One hundred saves and never been caught," he yelled.

Nightstrike moved to follow when a bright pink cloth dropped on his head blocking his vision for a moment. He ripped it off his head and looked above, but Paige had ducked behind the portion of Strongarm that was still visible so he didn't see her. He then took off flying after Russel. Denny grabbed the rock and started to hack away at Bumblebee's prison while Paige used a small foldable knife that had been stored in a pocket she'd sown into her dress to cut at the tube holding Strongarm. As soon as Strongarm had an arm free, she jumped to Sideswipe and started on his prison.

Denny had been freeing Bumblebee when Nightstrike went after him. Russel took the rock back and started freeing Grimlock as Bumblebee used his free hand and his Decepticon hunter to release one of the spider bots that made up Chop Shop. He asked the spider bot to help Denny before he left and after some uncertainty, the Con threw a spilled paint bucket at Nightstrike temporarily blinding him though it was more to aid his own escape than to help Denny. It did allow Denny time to jump into a crack in the floor allowing him to escape.

"Leave him alone," called Russel from where he stood next to the released bots.

Nightstrike turned and unleashed a sonic blast.

"Turn off your audios," called Russel plugging his ears.

All the bots immediately did and none were affected by the sonic blast this time. They soon engaged Nightstrike in battle and he was quickly defeated. Grimlock kept a foot on him to keep him down.

Sideswipe looked down, noticed something pink and picked it up. "Where's Paige?" he asked suddenly looking around after he realized it was her shredded dress.

"I'm here," called Paige from behind Fix-it. Her underclothes were covered in blue slime. "I think we all need a wash."

"I agree," said Denny flicking some of the blue goo onto the floor. He patted Russel on the head softly. "I guess you really don't get scared," he said.

"Are you kidding, I was terrified of losing you," said Russel as his voice trailed off in embarrassment.

Denny simply embraced him while Russel grimaced as the blue slime got on him.


	28. Chapter 28

The next morning Paige stuck to Sideswipe like glue. Wherever he went, she would follow. Her dress had been too damaged to fix, so she was now wearing one of Russel's smallest shirts. Considering she now came up close to Russel's knee in height, it was like a large billowy dress on her. She had used a shoelace to make a makeshift belt. She was currently watching Sideswipe from a place high on one of the aisle shelves of the scrapyard where she had climbed and it was starting to freak him out. He glanced at her in confusion and asked Bumblebee about it, but he only shook his head and told him to tolerate her for now.

"She's on edge and stressed out. I think she knows something is going to happen," explained Bumblebee after Sideswipe continued to pester him.

"That involves me?" he asked looking in her direction in alarm. "So what's going to happen? Is it something bad?"

"She hasn't told me," said Bumblebee. "She was right about Nightstrike so I'd give her the benefit of the doubt. You are not to leave this scrapyard unless she is with you," said Bumblebee seriously. "You also need to be extra careful when she is with you. Paige will put your welfare over her own."

"Okay, okay, I got it," said Sideswipe waving him off.

When the bots headed off to do reconnaissance, Paige rode with Sideswipe. Going at speeds that most cars couldn't reach, he went ahead of the group while playfully taunting them. Paige sat silently clutching the seatbelt, but she was smiling. She couldn't help it because she liked to go fast too, but had never had the guts to go over the speed limit. Tangling with the police was not on her allowed list. Sideswipe quickly pulled into a train tunnel and let her out. He transformed and placed her securely on his shoulder while boasting to the other bots about getting to their destination so fast. As a train approached, he jumped onto the platform and continued his banter with Strongarm who argued that she had to haul three tons of Dinobot.

"This is a mission and not a contest if I may remind the two of you," said Bumblebee.

Behind Sideswipe another train car pulled up and slowed to a stop.

"Sideswipe, behind you!" cried an alarmed Paige.

Sideswipe spun quickly around to see the single rail car finish its transformation. He quickly dodged when the Con struck at him, but he was hit with an electric charge from the end of its long tail that knocked him out. As he fell forward, he saw Paige leap from his shoulder onto the Con. He was instantly horrified at what he'd allowed her to do, but was unable to help as he went unconscious.

Paige was very lucky. Her shoes were rubber soled so she didn't get shocked when Sideswipe did. She was also already propelling herself at the Con at the time. Paige used all four limbs to cling onto the mad scientist's neck for all she was worth even as his tail whipped around and started to come at her. She already had a small round device clenched in her mouth. She spit it on him and slammed it against his neck with a free hand. He suddenly crumbled as the disrupter activated and she rode him down as he collapsed onto the ground. Her heart was beating like crazy and she tried to control her breathing. All she needed to do now was keep him down until the others arrived. She quickly looked over at Sideswipe, called his name repeatedly, but he was still out. He wouldn't lose his body this time if she had anything to say about it. She clearly remembered the day that she'd first seen the episode. She'd been in a highly sensitive mood and had wanted to relax by watching an episode or two. Usually the episodes got a chuckle out of her, but this episode had struck her the wrong way. First, it was a filler episode that was only used to teach Sideswipe's humungous ego a lesson. From what he said at the end it was unlikely he learned anything from the incident though and Fix-it hadn't quite repaired him correctly after either. That just didn't sit well with her. She had found the whole cutting off his head and stealing his body a macabre storyline. It was something ripped straight from a horror movie that only belonged in the unbelievable world of cartoons not in real life which is why she tried her hardest to prevent it now. It didn't make sense that Sideswipe could lose his head and still be alive. If anything she knew about Cybertronian anatomy was true, then the only reason Sideswipe had survived was probably because it was a kid's cartoon. Though it was true that the cartoon's creators had killed other characters before there hadn't been a whole lot of deaths in the episodes she'd watched. More had died in Transformers Prime if she recalled. The episode had probably caused her more trauma than even Sideswipe. She could pinpoint her hatred of the storyline to a horror movie she wished she could unsee where people were dismembered by a mad scientist and this episode had brought up those memories again. At the time she'd been completely disgusted and right now that feeling of revulsion was strong and clear. Being stuck in Transformers in real life was complicated, but this episode made her feel like she was living in a horror movie. Right now though all her emotions had gone numb as she listened intently for any sign that the monstrosity she was sitting on top of was waking up. She already had the second disrupter in her hand ready to go. Long ago when she could only write as a means of communication, she had asked Fix-it to make the disrupters for her. After some trial and error, he had actually succeeded.

Paige heard a slight unfamiliar noise before the Con's optics even lit up. She immediately slammed down the second disrupter and activated it as something slammed into her sending her flying off the platform. She landed roughly on the cement below crying out from the pain. She had instinctively protected her head and rolled with the impact to lessen it, but the initial landing still hurt a lot. One of two rails stopped her momentum and luckily for her this wasn't a subway so there wasn't a third rail to be fried on. She tried to get her bearings as quickly as she could and looked above in concern, but she could still make out the collapsed form of the Con. She sighed in relief. The second disrupter had done its job. She groaned in pain as she pulled herself to a sitting position. She hurt all over, but she didn't think anything was broken. Suddenly she heard a sound she didn't want to hear. The sound of an approaching train. "Oh no," she said. She quickly got to her feet ignoring the pain that shot through her body and went to the side, but there was no way she'd ever make it up to the platform not at her height. She couldn't outrun the train either so trying was futile. There was only one choice left. She was still small enough so hopefully there'd be enough clearance. She immediately lay between the rails clutching her arms as close to her sides as possible and away from the rails. The train was getting closer and she wanted to block her ears from the sound, but she forced her arms to remain where they were. She squinted her eyes and then it was over her. The sound of the tires squealing on the tracks made her grit her teeth and the engine of the train thundered over her. She couldn't help it and she let out a scream as it passed over her. The train was quick, but it seemed like an eternity. She finally sat up stunned as she heard vehicles approach from behind. The first to pull up was Bumblebee with Fix-it. Strongarm pulling Grimlock appeared soon after. Bumblebee immediately transformed and came over to her. "Are you all right?" he asked in concern.

She was still in shock so she didn't answer at first. Then she only pointed up at the platform and Bumblebee jumped up there leaving her with Fix-it while Strongarm and Grimlock transformed. Grimlock joined Bumblebee in restraining the still unconscious Con, while Strongarm brought Fix-it and Paige up onto the platform in order to check on Sideswipe.

It didn't take long before Sideswipe came online. He immediately looked around searching for Paige. She was sitting against one of the platform pillars silent tears running down her face. "What's wrong with her?" he asked quickly to the nearest bot who happened to be Bumblebee.

"Humans leak water from their eyes when they're sad, hurt or happy," explained Bumblebee. "She's damaged and in shock right now. It's best if you leave her be for awhile. She saved you, you know. The Con's designation is Vertebreak and he's known for stealing bodies from his victims and other unlawful experiments. Paige had to knock him out twice before we arrived, but the Con managed to throw her onto the tracks and she nearly got hit by the train. She's lucky she survived."

Sideswipe had the sense to look thoroughly chastised. He had failed in his task of guarding her something he'd never failed with when he was with Russel.

"Don't take it too hard," said Bumblebee giving him a pat on the shoulder. "She did act on her own accord and she's done this before. I can see that her reckless streak hasn't changed. Strongarm will take her back and Grimlock has the prisoner," he continued. "Paige says the Con has a lab down here so you, me and Fix-it will check it out before we head back."

When they finally got back to the scrapyard, Denny was waiting for them. Grimlock and Strongarm were in the back securing the prisoner. "Hey Bee," said Denny in greeting. "What happened with Paige?"

"Where is she?" asked Bumblebee glancing around.

"She's in the trailer resting," said Denny. "I gave her some children's pain reliever and from what I could see, she was terribly bruised on one side. She didn't explain what happened only that she'd be okay since nothing was broken. What happened?"

"We were tracking a possible Con signature and she must have known about him," said Bumblebee. "She never told me what was going to happen, but for some reason she had to be there. It might have been a fear about the future that she needed to overcome. She managed to knock the Con out, but he knocked her onto the train tracks. She nearly got hit by a train, but she was small enough for it to pass over her. She nearly gave me a spark attack when I heard her scream." Bumblebee turned to Fix-it. "You gave her those disrupters, didn't you?"

"Yes, I created the disrupters for her. It gives off a charge to a bot's processor putting the bot into stasis for a while, but you have to be really close to set it off," said Fix-it. "She requested them not long after she first appeared."

"Which means she knew this was going to happen from the beginning and she was preparing," said Bumblebee shaking his head in disbelief.

"She was on my shoulder before I was attacked and tried to warn me," said Sideswipe suddenly. "I saw her jump on the Con before I went into stasis. I don't know if that's really brave or just stupid."

"I can't believe she did that," said Bumblebee sighing.

"I believe it," said Denny and Bumblebee gave him a curious look. "She may be tiny, but she's a grown woman and Russel's mother is much the same. If there was something she really wanted, she'd go to great lengths to get it."

"The only grown women I knew when I was here last were Paige who was reckless and polite and June who was practical and overly protective," said Bumblebee. "The rest were only kids so I never really figured out how most human women act."

Denny laughed. "You and me buddy. I'm sorry to say that human men are still trying to figure them out. Each one is different from the next and you'd have to spend a life time trying to figure them out and that still may not be enough time."


	29. Chapter 29

Paige could barely move in the morning she was so sore and achy so she remained in the trailer which is why she missed Jetstorm's arrival and then later Drift showing up with Slipstream in pursuit of him. The whole situation between them had been a misunderstanding and she didn't feel like getting involved. They wouldn't be leaving anyway so Paige knew she'd see them around. She examined the bruises and scrapes that covered most of her right side to see them starting to turn blue and green around the edges of the dark purple patches. She knew it would take several weeks before they disappeared. Luckily most of them were covered by the new shirt she'd borrowed from Russel.

She finally emerged from the trailer the next day though she was limping slightly. She didn't really respond to anyone other than to nod in acknowledgement as she passed them. Most of the bots were off to one side running an obstacle course anyway, but Paige didn't pay them much attention instead she went into the command center to talk to Fix-it. He had been working on the ground bridge again and she wanted to now how to turn it off and on in case he wasn't around to do so. Just then there was an alarm signaling that a Con had been detected.

"I'm picking up a Decepticon signal submerged far off shore," said Fix-it looking at the monitor.

"I have a feeling I'm about to hear the word ground bridge," said Sideswipe leaning against the wall lazily.

"I've been working on it since your last outing," said Fix-it confidently. "It will work this time."

"Will?" asked Sideswipe raising an eye ridge.

"Should," said Fix-it in response.

"It is the most direct route to our Decepticon," said Bumblebee. "Looks like we've come to a bridge. Let's cross it." The only response he got was a couple of groans. "It's an Earth saying," explained Bumblebee in exasperation.

"You may want to stick to the rallying cry," supplied Strongarm.

Bumblebee sighed in defeat. "That was a rallying cry."

"The ground bridge is set to your underwater destination," said Fix-it.

As soon as all the bots passed through, Paige hit the shutdown switch before the sea water could come through. Fix-it looked over at her in question. "We were about to get a whole lot of water over here," said Paige. "You need to remember that the ground bridge functions as a two way door. Even a fish swimming into it, could dump half the ocean into the scrapyard." There was already a rather large puddle under the ground bridge.

"That could have been a disaster," exclaimed Denny looking around his scrapyard in worry.

"Fix-it, will you please warn Bumblebee over the comm that the ship will have mini-con drones and other defenses already activated once they get inside. They need to be very careful as the Con has already reached the command center," said Paige settling down on a nearby chair to wait for the bots to return.

"Will do," said Fix-it.

"Thank you Fix-it," said Paige startling him. It wasn't often that he got thanked for the work he did.

A few hours later Fix-it reopened the ground bridge and the bots poured through with a great deal of sea water. Paige quickly shut the portal after everyone was through. Denny wasn't too happy about the salt water, but at least the whole place didn't get flooded.


	30. Chapter 30

All the bots, Denny and Russel were looking through the scrapyard for Fix-it, but they couldn't find him anywhere. Paige was missing as well. They tracked Fix-it's signal on the computer and Sideswipe and the mini-cons went out in search of him.

Paige had seen Fix-it leaving the scrapyard earlier and followed behind. He seemed to be stuck in a vocal rut since he kept repeating the word escape. He was definitely glitching. She figured she'd simply knock some sense into him with a rock or something, but the little bugger was fast on his wheels for a bot traveling in the wilderness. Paige was only slightly taller than Denny's knees now so she still couldn't cover much distance very quickly. She knew Fix-it would eventually stop so she merely kept track of him even as he pulled further and further ahead. Finally he stopped and Paige searched around for a piece of wood or a rock. It wasn't that easy to climb up Fix-it because he didn't have that many grooves so it would be easier to simply throw something at his head. She finally found a decent sized rock and aimed it at his head. She misjudged the distance because of her size and she missed the next three times much to her embarrassment. She went to try again when she heard something rustle in the brush behind her and she turned to see the brown fur of a bear. She had remembered Fix-it glitching and she had remembered everyone searching for him, but she hadn't remembered the bear. If she recalled correctly, brown bears were likely to attack anything that disturbed them especially if there was a cub nearby. She quickly moved around Fix-it using him as a shield. At her size, she'd make a quick snack for that bear if it saw her. The bear lumbered nearby obviously disturbed by Fix-it repeating the word escape over and over. Paige could completely understand. She was beyond annoyed by it as well. Agitated, the bear finally reared up threateningly and came in their direction. Paige couldn't help it and she let out a terrified piercing shriek. The scream apparently was more effective than a hit to the head as Fix-it started to come out of his glitch. The bear reared up again growling and Paige shrieked again, but before it could attack Sideswipe stepped in its path and then led it away. The mini-cons quickly followed after him.

While they were distracting the bear, Paige informed Fix-it that he'd glitched even though he tried to deny it and convinced him to return to the scrapyard. The mini-cons and Sideswipe returned to join them and naturally Paige started to fall behind because of her size. That didn't escape Sideswipe's notice however and he stopped so she could catch up. He was relieved to notice that she wasn't limping anymore, but he still wanted to scold her for leaving by herself because his energon had nearly frozen when he heard her screams. He held his complaints solely because he felt that he'd slightly redeemed himself just now for saving her and Fix-it from the bear. Hopefully this would make up for the Vertebreak incident. Sideswipe wasn't a patient bot, but he wasn't going to push her to keep up with them. However, Slipstream solved that problem by asking Paige if he could carry her and Paige consented.

"I've never held a human child before," said Slipstream carefully cradling her in one arm and Paige laughed in response.

"I'm tiny, but I'm not a child," she said. The mini-cons hadn't taken an interest in her till now so she was sure the other bots hadn't told them about her situation so she started to explain her odd circumstances. Both Slipstream and Jetstorm were highly interested in what was happening to her. Even Fix-it and Sideswipe got to hear a new story about the end of the war that they didn't know.

"There weren't any statues of you on Cybertron," said Sideswipe frowning suddenly. "Not even small ones."

"It's hardly surprising," said Paige pragmatically. "The humans were only a small part of the war even at the end. Even if they did help, Bumblebee was the one that took down Megatron personally, but it was Optimus' whole team that made it happen. No offense, but most of your kind looks down on humans and I don't mean from a height perspective. Considering that the bots that are now in control probably didn't have much to do with the war, they most likely omitted our involvement."

"That's not right," said Sideswipe shaking his head.

"Most of the humans that were involved are probably gone now," said Paige shrugging. "I don't think they mind and neither do I. The planet was saved and that was all that mattered. Besides, there are millions of humans that never knew about the Autobots in the first place so it's only fair."

When they returned to the scrapyard, Bumblebee told Fix-it that he needed to get repaired and Fix-it surprisingly asked Denny to do it. Denny protested at first, but then agreed after saying he needed to do some research.

Paige knew how this was going to turn out. She was small enough that her fingers might be useful in helping repair him, but she had no knowledge nor the confidence that she could help. She asked Slipstream to put her down and walked toward the trailer. It was still intact after this episode so she'd be safe in there. As she passed by Bumblebee, she said, "We need Ratchet."

"I wish," responded Bumblebee looking down at her. "Things would be so much easier."

"I miss the grumpy bot," added Paige as Bumblebee chuckled in response.

"He's still on Cybertron," he said.

Paige frowned. "No, he isn't," she said shaking her head. Bumblebee looked at her in confusion. "I guess you didn't know," she said. "You'll see him again and he'll tell you why himself. I don't know when that will be though. I didn't pay as much attention to these stories as I did to the ones during the war. I apologize for that." She bit her lip in regret and headed off to the trailer while Drift stepped over to Bumblebee.

"How is it that the human knows what is occurring on Cybertron?" asked Drift bluntly.

Bumblebee blinked his optics in surprise. It was the first time Drift had been even slightly interested in a human. Denny liked to stay out of his way and Russel butted heads with him, but he mostly ignored Paige and she'd done so in return. She might have caught his attention when Slipstream came in carrying her. Slipstream seemed to be the more level headed of the mini-cons. "Well when we first met," said Bumblebee starting on the story. He had just finished telling Drift about her mysterious appearance here when Denny entered the tent to try and fix Fix-it.

"So she claims to see the future," said Drift glancing at the trailer where she was currently staying.

Bumblebee laughed surprising Drift. "Actually she says she knows the past," said Bumblebee. "She's from the future and she says she only knows old stories about the past. She's organic though so she can't remember every detail. That's why she only offers advice. We can choose to follow it or ignore it. If it's something extremely important, she'll get involved and try to change it herself. That was how she got injured earlier."

"That is commendable of her," said Drift.

Bumblebee raised his eye ridge at the unexpected compliment. He'd bet a hundred credits that Drift wouldn't tell her that in person though.

Denny suddenly exited the tent saying Fix-it was awake. Unfortunately Fix-it had switched from Caretaker to Guard mode and all his missiles and armaments came out. He identified all the bots in his sight as possible Decepticon captives and the chase started. All the ship's defense blasters that had been randomly stored throughout the scrapyard activated as well, targeting the bots. During the chaos, Chop Shop escaped his stasis pod, but was hunted down by the other bots and a still malfunctioning Fix-it. Eventually they managed to corral both the Con and Fix-it. Denny tinkered a bit more and Fix-it ended up still glitched, but slightly more repaired as his stutter disappeared.

Drift frowned as he looked back at the trailer now that things had calmed down. "She should have warned us."

"She may not have known," said Bumblebee in her defense.

"And yet despite the noise, she did not step one foot out that door," said Drift.

Bumblebee couldn't say anything to refute that. He knew that Paige had a reason for everything she did, but that didn't mean he had to agree with it.

"All that insanity and he's right back where he started," said Denny sighing as he watched Fix-it run into something.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Bumblebee in relief. Having Fix-it in Caretaker mode was probably the best for everyone's safety.

"If we cannot repair Fix-it," said Drift. "It would behoove us to access and repair the defense systems he created."

"See what you can do," said Bumblebee in agreement.


	31. Chapter 31

The bots were bringing in roller coaster tracks that Denny had purchased and were quickly assembling them. Denny was standing there staring at them in awe as they easily assembled them. "Ah, the Autobots make it look so easy," said Denny looking up at them. "Moving tons of metal like that."

"It is easy if you're three stories tall and can crush train cars with your bare hands," said Russel.

"We must seem like insignificant bugs to them," said Denny frowning.

"How do you think I feel," added Paige as she walked by toward the trailer.

"We give them a safe place to stay and hide," stressed Russel. "That's important."

"We've got a few more bars to bring in Denny," said Bumblebee walking up. "But we're almost done."

An alarm suddenly sounded and Fix-it called, "Lieutenant Bumblebee, there is a Decepticon signal far east of here." The bots immediately left to investigate.

It wasn't much later when Paige heard the startled cries from Fix-it, Denny and Russel. She was in the trailer so she climbed up to peer out the window. Steeljaw and his group of Decepticons had infiltrated the scrapyard's defenses. They would end up using some sort of subsonic noise barrier to keep the Autobots out. She sat by the window and waited while Fix-it tried to delay the opening of the stasis pods. Steeljaw obviously wanted to expand his army. She smirked. Too bad that wasn't going to work out for him. She watched as Denny and Russel snuck away from their captors and Steeljaw sent two of his goons after them. She certainly could have stayed safely in the trailer as they obviously didn't know about her, but she was curious about Steeljaw. At the very least she could act as a distraction and buy Fix-it some more time.

Paige left the trailer and walked into the command center without attracting too much attention. Steeljaw had his back turned at the time as he was looking at the slowly opening stasis pods. Fix-it saw her, but he didn't say anything other than to look at her in astonishment. Fracture's mini-cons eventually noticed her, but by that time she had already climbed on top of the console next to the one that Fix-it was working on. As the mini-cons came her way, she called out to Steeljaw bringing his attention to her.

"So you're Steeljaw," she said conversationally. "I've heard a lot about you." He really did look a lot like a wolf she mused.

Steeljaw's attention snapped to her, he blinked in confusion and immediately narrowed his eyes. He didn't know how he'd missed her before. He hadn't seen her earlier when they were doing reconnaissance, but she was smaller than most humans. He leaned toward her in an intimidating manner, but she didn't flinch or move away. For some reason this human wasn't afraid of him.

"So you think you can take this world when even Megatron failed," said Paige looking him up and down. "I don't get it though." She tilted her head to the side curiously as she observed him. "You're plenty brilliant." Steeljaw straightened slightly at the compliment. The movement was slight, but Paige still saw it. "It's a pity that Megatron didn't have your mind. With your mind he would have won the war and everything would be different. All he had going for him was intimidation and ruthlessness. If someone didn't agree with him, he simply terminated them. You haven't killed any of your fellow Cons yet so your leadership style must be different."

"What are you?" asked Steeljaw placing a clawed hand next to her.

"Complicated," replied Paige. Since she had his full attention now, Fix-it had managed to lock down the stasis pods again. "I met him more than once before the end of the war. Megatron, I mean. He was more of a puppet than he knew back then and he finally realized that at the end."

Steeljaw turned away momentarily his attention drawn to the noise the locked out Autobots were making around the scrapyard perimeter. "Are the subsonics down?" he asked the Mini-cons. One of them shook their head in the negative and he sent the other Cons out to investigate. "Fan out."

"So what do you use to convince your followers," continued Paige pulling his attention back to her. "You might be a convincing speaker and even I like the sound of your voice, but words and flimsy promises will only get you so far. Does it have something to do with subsonics. I'm not exactly sure how that works, but if you can hurt bots with it perhaps you can use it to convince them, ensnare them even. You definitely have control over them somehow."

Steeljaw just looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he turned to an approaching Con. Denny had been caught and returned. Steeljaw picked him up and turned to face the command center. "Open the pods," he suddenly demanded of Fix-it. "Or the human dies." Fix-it quickly moved to comply.

"You'll fail just like Megatron did," said Paige sliding off the panel to the floor. She purposely hit the closure button on the stasis pods as she did so. "The humans live on this planet, but they don't rule it. This planet already belongs to another and even you can't defeat him."

Steeljaw obviously agitated went to reply to her when something flying made him flinch and duck. He dropped Denny to the ground and Paige hunkered down as one of Drift's mini-cons landed in the command center and went up against the other mini-cons. Paige jumped up to the console and closed the pods once again. She ducked back down just as Drift's second mini-con landed right on the terminal damaging it. Denny had used the second distraction to run off again.

The Autobots gained entry to the scrapyard as the subsonic barrier went down and it wasn't long before Bumblebee appeared and tackled Steeljaw. As they were fighting, Paige left the command center to make sure the pods were still closed. She sighed in relief. Luckily she had hit the button in time and the closure signal had been successfully sent before the monitor was damaged. If Vertebreak had escaped, she would have been more than slightly upset. As the rest of the Autobots arrived and Steeljaw was forced to flee, she stood there smiling and gave a small wave at his retreating back.

Paige was headed back to the trailer when she was stopped by Denny. She looked up at him curiously.

"What did you mean when you said that Earth doesn't belong to us," said Denny as he glanced over in concern to where his son was standing.

"I was only referring to an old Cybertronian myth," said Paige reassuringly. "Steeljaw might have known about it if he knew his history. I was trying to scare him and distract him at the same time. I just made it up."

"That's a relief," said Denny walking off.

"Mostly," she added under her breath. She flexed the hand that had been damaged by dark energon and then curled it into a fist. It wasn't something that would impact them in their lifetimes anyway. If Unicron ever woke up again, it was likely he could be stopped. There'd always be someone there waiting to continue the story.

Suddenly she found herself lifted as a black hand closed around her. Startled she looked up to see Drift as he brought her closer to his face. His mini-cons weren't with him and he started to walk further into the scrapyard. "We need to talk," was the only thing he said. They finally stopped in one of the rows in the back and Drift put her on a shelf so that she was more eye level with him.

"Why did you not warn us about Steeljaw," he demanded.

"I'll admit I knew he was coming, but I didn't know when," said Paige sitting down and scooting back. While she had climbed the shelves before, she was still not a big fan of heights. "By the time I realized it was going to be today, he and his group were already here. Sure, I could have warned you he'd attempt to free the prisoners, but isn't that something you should have already known. In order to take over a planet, building an army is step one."

"That is true," said Drift reluctantly.

"If I told you everything I know, you be so busy looking out for it that you might miss something else," said Paige. "Knowing the future is hard and I don't know everything. There is only so much I can remember. It was so much easier during the war." She released a long sigh. "I only try and change things I think will help you. I have no choice to let the others occur as they should."

Bumblebee and Sideswipe came around the corner. Bumblebee was eyeing them in concern.

"We're simply talking," said Paige looking at him. "Did you need something from me?"

"What were you doing in the command center?" asked Bumblebee. "Fix-it said you were talking to Steeljaw."

"Distracting him," said Paige. "I also wanted to be close to the control panel for the stasis pods. I knew the mini-cons were likely to damage it as they landed so I wanted to close the pods before it was inoperative."

"You shouldn't have put yourself at risk like that," said Bumblebee.

"Now you're starting to sound like Optimus," said Paige mockingly. "I couldn't help it. I was curious about Steeljaw, but I was mostly concerned that Vertebreak would get free from his stasis pod. I guess you can say I was there for a self-serving reasons."

"You could have been seriously hurt," said Bumblebee reprovingly.

"I'm fine," said Paige dismissively. "I was fairly confident I'd be fine. You give me too little credit."

"If I give you too much, your ego might be too big to handle," said Bumblebee jokingly.

"What can I say," said Paige. "I've been hanging around Sideswipe too much."

"Hey," protested Sideswipe from behind Bumblebee.

Paige turned back to Drift. "Ask me what you like anytime, but even in the past Optimus Prime himself ignored my advice and the war was still won."

"Understood," said Drift as he walked off.

Bumblebee carefully collected Paige and headed back toward the command center.


	32. Chapter 32

Russel couldn't take his Dad's snoring anymore so Denny built him a small trailer that contained a room just for him. Paige couldn't help but think he was lucky since she still had to share the trailer with Denny. If she was unable to sleep because of the noise, she could always sleep in during the day after Denny got up, but then she ran the risk of missing a key event. So she resigned herself to not getting a full undisturbed night's sleep. She felt like she couldn't complain because even though she had provided Denny with the ring as payment for her stay here, she was still hesitant to ask for anything that she didn't absolutely need. She knew that she couldn't be selfish since her presence here was unexpected and she had to rely on Denny for everything she needed. There was also the fact that once she got to a certain height she would be forced to leave. She'd already consciously started to distance herself from both the bots and the humans in the scrapyard lately because the dark cloud of that reality hung over her future and she knew that everyday it got a little closer.

Sideswipe arrived back at the scrapyard with the Autobot, Windblade, accompanying him. Paige was glad they now had a new ally and one that could fly at that. Windblade knew how to handle the mechs, but Strongarm came into conflict with her at first. Paige knew they would work their issues out so she let them be.

Bumblebee wanted to show his team the beauty of Earth and took them on a trip to the wild west, but nothing of note happened around the scrapyard until Sideswipe and Strongarm were captured and the rest of the Autobots left to rescue them.

Paige was inside the trailer when she heard a commotion and looked out the window to see Fracture and his mini-cons trying to capture Denny, Russel and Fix-it. The three of them rushed out of the diner in a surprise attack, but Fracture and his mini-cons were already on the ground unconscious and Optimus Prime stood over them with his sword. Paige quickly left the trailer while the others stared up at him in awe.

"Whoa," said Russel.

Optimus knelt down. "You are Denny and Russel," said Optimus.

"I've heard that voice before," said Russel.

"He's Optimus Prime," called Paige as she walked over to stand next to the group.

Optimus jolted at seeing her. He obviously recognized her.

"You look a lot different," said Russel examining Optimus' armor.

"I need to speak with Bumblebee," said Optimus.

"He went to rescue Sideswipe and Strongarm from Steeljaw's pack," said Denny.

"I can pinpoint their location," said Fix-it looking at his handheld. "They're near Crown City by the waterfront."

"They'll all end up at the base of the statue where Filch took us," said Paige. "That's where we need to go."

"Understood," said Fix-it heading toward the command center.

"There is little time," said Paige nodding toward the unconscious Cons. "We need to put these three in stasis and go. Optimus, we can run interference with the local authorities while you attempt to stop Megatronus. The Autobots are still in disguise here."

Optimus inclined his head in agreement and rose to his feet.

Optimus brought Denny, Russel and Paige to the bridge that led into Crown City and then used his boosters to fly over the water to help engage the Decepticons. Paige was thrilled that he could still fly. She had forgotten about that small detail.

A wave of energy washed over the lake as Optimus destroyed the bridge that Steeljaw had used to bring Megatronus back to this dimension. Paige merely sat on one side of the lower bridge railing while Denny and Russel tried to convince the cop on the other side to shut down the bridge because movie robotics were malfunctioning. Paige stood to get a better view when a driver that had seen her swerved and crashed into the railing a few feet from her. The bridge support wavered from the shock, but Paige had a tight enough grip to avoid falling over and into the water. The driver of the car was moving around so they must have been okay. They were also on the phone and gesturing toward her frantically. She quickly realized that they must have thought she was going to jump and she was still small enough to be mistaken for a child. Paige chuckled to herself as she jumped down from the railing onto the bridge. It had been accidental, but the crashed car was now blocking all other cars from entering the bridge from this side so it was a useful coincidence. She heard someone call after her as she walked away, but she didn't even glance back and she kept walking.

There were more flares of bright light as the Autobots battled the Decepticons and the sounds of destruction could be heard all the way over here. Paige finally reached the other side and opened the unlocked police car. Apparently the owner didn't expect anyone to be gutsy enough to break into his car. She popped the trunk and removed a few emergency signs and cones. She set them up on this side of the bridge effectively blocking the incoming traffic and finally made her way to Denny and Russel. She dramatically told the police officer about the crash on the other side of the bridge exaggerating it to make him think it was bigger than it was. The officer hurried off to investigate the crash while Paige told Denny and Russel that the bridge had successfully been blocked off on both sides. Paige, Denny and Russel stood watching the show across the lake and Paige shivered suddenly. There was an odd vibration in her hand that seemed to spread through her body. The air around them seemed to become charged as if a storm was approaching. A few tears escaped and slipped down her face.

"What's wrong?" asked Denny in concern.

"It's Unicron," said Paige wiping her face with the hand that hadn't gone as numb. "I can feel him."

"What's Unicron?" asked Russel curiously.

"One of the very first Transformers," said Paige. "Older than even the Earth. History says he and his brother had planets as alt modes."

"If that's the case and he's here," said Denny. "Why can't we see him?"

"Megatronus pulled his spark or soul from his body," said Paige. "Megatronus intends to put Unicron's spark and his brother's spark together. They're supposed to be polar opposites so by joining them, it will create an explosion that will consume this galaxy and those around it."

Both Denny and Russel looked panicked at her words.

"Don't worry," said Paige reassuringly. "Bumblebee and the others will save us." Paige felt a change in the atmosphere as dark clouds bloomed over the island that the bots were currently on. A gateway opened and a bright light descended from the sky. More tears fell down Paige's cheeks. "I guess they really are connected," she said more to herself than her audience. "I can feel Primus too and I've never come into contact with him." She took a deep shaky breath. She had never felt something so beautiful and so terrifying at the same time. She looked over at Denny and Russel. "It'll be over soon," said Paige. "We should go warn them to leave before the authorities show up."

Megatronus was finally destroyed through the combined efforts of Optimus, Strongarm, Sideswipe and Bumblebee. The bots returned to the scrapyard with their prisoners. They were all congratulating each other on a job well done and they all decided to stay at the scrapyard to continue the hunt for the Cons. Optimus agreed to stay as well. It was a given considering that not all of the escaped Cons had been captured yet and Paige knew that this story was still not over.

"Paige, you all right?" asked Bumblebee as she passed him. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since the battle.

Paige rubbed her arm. She gave him a small smile that did not reach her eyes. "It's just old wounds aching," she said. "Now that he's sleeping again. It's slowly going away."

Bumblebee cringed and nodded his head in understanding. As she started to walk away, he called behind her, "You were sure we would win this time, weren't you?"

Paige turned to face him. "The future is a delicate thing and I won't mess with a guaranteed outcome. I only interfere in things that will give you a slighter edge," explained Paige.

"I think you take too much on your shoulders. You can't know everything," said Bumblebee.

"Some things are certain even without me here. Your victory in the war was certain. I just made getting there slightly less painful," she replied. "I don't have the luxury of doubts when I know how things will happen." She looked up meeting Bumblebee's optics. "I apologize," she said sincerely.

"For what?" asked Bumblebee in confusion.

"For only knowing so far into your future," said Paige. "One day not far in the future I will no longer be able to help." She paused for a moment. "You'll be fine though because you're Bumblebee after all." She gave him a genuine smile and walked away.

Optimus walked up behind Bumblebee. "When did she arrive?" he asked curiously.

"Not very long after we arrived on Earth," said Bumblebee turning to face him. "Did Micronus say anything about her?"

"He did not," said Optimus as his optics trailed after her. "He is keeping his secrets or he may not know she is even involved. It seems Ratchet was not successful in his attempts to figure out her condition as she has continued to shrink."

"No," said Bumblebee shaking his head. "You misunderstand. She's growing not shrinking."

Optimus looked at him in confusion.

"Not long after you left us, she shrank so small that she disappeared entirely," explained Bumblebee. "The human scientists hypothesized that she simple ceased to exist, but when she appeared here, she was barely the size of an Earth insect. She also hadn't aged any since the last time I saw her."

"She somehow transcended time," said Optimus.

"I wouldn't put it past her," said Bumblebee looking at him pointedly. "All sorts of unbelievable things have been occurring lately."

"Indeed," agreed Optimus.


	33. Chapter 33

It was a down day at the scrapyard. Russel was buffing Grimlock's armor. Fix-it was playing Go-Fish with Denny while Sideswipe watched as he lazily reclined behind them. Drift was cleaning his sword while Optimus told war stories to an enthusiastic Strongarm and Drift's mini-cons. Windblade was working on a stasis pod and Bumblebee was at the command center keeping an optic out for Con signals. Paige stepped outside of the trailer when she heard a commotion, but it was only Sideswipe and Strongarm getting into a fight again. Grimlock broke it up when the face of Micronus suddenly appeared on his armor. Naturally Grimlock freaked out. Micronus informed Optimus that he must return the portion of the other Prime's sparks and of course Optimus agreed.

"Wait," said Bumblebee stepping in front of Optimus protectively. "Optimus told us the first transfer nearly destroyed him. How do we know the reversal?"

"This isn't a Q and A session," said Micronus rudely cutting him off.

"Of course the Primes want the power to interfere with the living back again," said Paige loudly. "They may have gone to the Well, but they can't let their descendants live in peace. They already forced Optimus to fix their mistake. When they banished Megatronos to another dimension, it was only a matter of time before he broke free. Of course by that time they wouldn't have to deal with the problem themselves so they left it to their descendants. That was nice of you leaving your mess for others to clean up."

Micronus looked at her briefly with no emotion on his face. "Commence reversal," he said.

Optimus was pulled up in a column of light and he groaned in pain as the power was pulled from him.

"Stop! You're pulling him apart," cried Bumblebee. He and several others rushed forward, but a bright pulse of energy blasted them back.

When the energy pulse hit Paige, her screams of pain joined Optimus'. She collapsed to her knees and then to the ground as her left arm flared with intense pain. It felt like it was on fire and she cradled it to her body as the pain in her left hand increased to excruciating levels. She had never liked the Primes, but perhaps it was a mistake to insult them. She was definitely paying the price for it now. If this was how Rafael had felt when he was being treated for dark energon exposure, she had to give the kid props for surviving.

Behind her, Optimus was released from the light column and he collapsed to the ground. Bumblebee rushed over to help him up, while Denny went over to check on Paige.

"Optimus, are you okay?" asked Bumblebee.

"I'm alive," said Optimus rising shakily to his feet.

"Barely," said Bumblebee turning to glare at Micronus. "You took too much of his power."

Micronus scanned Optimus. "Optimus will recover."

"Yea, I don't know about Optimus," called Denny from where he crouched. "But I think you took Paige down too."

Paige was curled on the ground struggling to control her breathing. The pain in her left arm and hand had finally disappeared leaving a completely numb appendage. She could no longer feel her left arm at all.

"The human is of no consequence," said Micronus. "It was not my intention to harm her, however, she was contaminated with dark energon."

Paige laughed, a slightly hysterical disbelieving laugh. "Aw, you mad that you didn't foresee my presence?" she said sitting up still cradling her damaged appendage. "During the war, I had the knowledge to let Megatron win and I could have easily prevented the Autobots from destroying Megatronus. You are so lucky I didn't let him destroy us all. Go back to the Well! Micronus, you are not welcome here!"

Micronus disappeared and Russel reassured Grimlock that he was gone from his armor.

Naturally Optimus despite being weak protested that he was fine and still fit for duty. Paige truly wished that Ratchet was here. Ratchet would have told him to shut up and go recharge. Bumblebee on the other hand was trying to placate Optimus by allowing him to go on the next Con hunt. Once they located a remote signal in the Arctic, Fix-it bridged the team to their destination minus Strongarm, Grimlock and Bumblebee. Paige immediately shut the bridge down after they passed through and the bots looked over at her in surprise.

"Fix-it, please check the bridge for malfunctions," said Paige walking shakily away from the controls. "It seems to be a theme that every time a bridge is used to send someone to a cold destination, the bridge explodes. After being attacked by an undead Cybertronian, I can't deal with anymore drama right now."

"Sure thing," said Fix-it heading toward the bridge.

"Are you really all right?" asked Bumblebee as Paige wandered slowly past him.

"No," said Paige. "I can't feel my entire left arm let alone my hand. Maybe if I got treatment for dark energon exposure when it first happened then I might have recovered quickly or not reacted at all to that energy blast. When it hit me, it felt like all the nerves were burning. I don't know if I've lost this arm for good or not. Only time will tell."

"You really let Micronus have it," said Bumblebee.

"I was angry," said Paige. "My injuries don't even factor into it. I was mad that the Primes forced Optimus to clean up their mess. Sure I'm glad he's alive, but Optimus just came back online and they wanted him to fight Megatronus. Now he's out there on missions teaching the others to fight. I really hope he gets the chance to do what he loves instead of just fighting all the time. I feel sorry for him. He's like a big teddy bear that can't say no to the Primes that are bullying him to do their work. Micronus being so small is the worst bully out of them all."

Bumblebee laughed. "You're ridiculous. Micronus may have caused you to lose all functionality in your arm and yet you're mad at him for treating Optimus poorly. You are one strange human."

"I found some faulty wires," called Fix-it from near the ground bridge. "I need replacements."

Suddenly a bot fell from the sky and landed heavily in the scrapyard kicking up a haze of dust. It was a Con with a distinctive Greek helmet shaped head.

"I guess it's your turn to be angry," said Paige looking up at Bumblebee. She headed toward the control center so she'd be out of the way.

"Overload," snarled Bumblebee.

"Where is Optimus Prime?" demanded Overload. "He stoled the spotlight from me."

There was a tussle and then the rest of the remaining Autobots left to go after Overload. Two Decepticon mini-cons that had been captured earlier that week, managed to escape their stasis pod since Overload had damaged it when he landed. Paige already knew they would end up teaming up with Overload against Bumblebee. Fix-it successfully repaired the ground bridge while the Autobots were gone and then got to work on the broken stasis pod. Paige knew that Bumblebee had history with the Con and she was all for letting him have revenge because with Bumblebee things always turned out okay. That bot really didn't have a vengeful bone in his body. By the time the team returned with all three of their prisoners, an exhausted Paige was already asleep.


	34. Chapter 34

Optimus Prime was off on missions with what Paige considered the two loners and the troublemaker. Naturally it was good for those bots to be with him because they were learning to work together as a team, but there was still a battle in the future that would involve all of them. Paige managed to catch Bumblebee while he was in the command center monitoring for Con signals. "There's something you need to know," said Paige.

"About?" asked Bumblebee not looking away from the monitor.

"The rest of the Alchemor," said Paige. "There were plenty of Cons that escaped, but the rest of the Alchemor survived. I wish I could give you it's location, but I don't know where it's located other than in a lake."

"You couldn't have given us this information earlier," said Bumblebee with his hands on his hips.

"I don't know the location, but eventually there will be someone that will appear who can lead you to it," said Paige frowning. "Take it as a warning for the future. The Cons that you're currently hunting are the ones that chose to go solo or were in the pods that crashed with the command center. There are lots more and when you go against them, you'll need the whole team."

Bumblebee sighed and then glanced at the arm she had in a sling. "How's the arm doing?" he asked.

Paige simply shrugged instead of answering. The reason she had it in a sling was because it was completely numb and she couldn't get it to move at all. She had tried moving it through some manual exercises in an attempt to rehabilitate it, but so far there'd been no progress. Either her nerves were fried or they weren't accepting the signals from her brain. At this point she had pretty much accepted that her arm and hand had been permanently paralyzed, but she wasn't going to tell that to the bots and cause them to worry meaninglessly. In the bigger scheme of things it didn't really matter.

"Maybe you should go to a doctor," said Bumblebee.

Paige firmly shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said dismissively. She was already slightly taller than Russel at this point, but she was still small for a grown woman so going to a doctor would only raise more questions. Plus she didn't think they'd be able to do anything for her. Double energon poisoning wasn't something humans were versed in. Throw in the fact that she wasn't about to force Denny to pay for her care, there was no way she could afford it. It was sweet of Bumblebee to be concerned, but there were things about humans that he still obviously didn't understand. Bumblebee looked like he wanted to protest, but their conversation was interrupted by Strongarm's appearance and Paige took the opportunity to escape.

Over the next few weeks, the bots went out on missions that Paige didn't join in with. Russel came back with a ripped shirt from one that he decided to stow away as a souvenir. Strongarm started having confidence issues after a series of misfortunes. Denny told Bumblebee that she needed a win in order to get her confidence back and she eventually did. Mysterious fires started popping up in random places and Grimlock accidentally set off the security features in the scrapyard while he and Russel were playing football. Grimlock complained that the others didn't think he was smart because they didn't include him in the planning meetings. He downloaded the university entrance exam into his head and as side effect became really smart. It overrode his instinctive combat reflexes which caused a problem when the bots went on a mission. Everything came out all right in the end like Paige knew it would. Currently she was with the bots in the scrapyard watching Russel put on a magic show.

"The Great Rustini," said Denny as way of introduction. Russel gave his dad a look that basically said, "why am I doing this?"

"Hocus Pocus, because now you see it and now you don't," said Russel as he made the coin in one hand disappear. The bots were amused and Russel explained how he used misdirection to hide the coin in his pocket. Paige knew that Bumblebee would later use this skill against one of the Cons. He was always quick at incorporating the things he learned. She smiled sadly and suddenly wished that magic could actually be real. If it was, she could save the bots and herself. Watching Russel's performance, made her think about her old life. Had things turned out differently and had she married her boyfriend or someone else, she might have kids of her own by now. She could be teaching them things like magic tricks. She quickly pushed those thoughts away. Having a normal life was something that she had given up when she first found herself in this universe. She wasn't interested in Denny and Russel already had a mother so this wasn't a situation where she could just fit in.

Suddenly the scrapyard alarm was tripped and the bots rushed to the entrance to see Steeljaw standing there. He was leaking energon from the wounds on his chest and he collapsed at the front gate. He seemed delirious and he managed to mumble that he'd been betrayed by Scropinox. The Autobots quickly put him in a stasis pod, but Paige got a bad feeling. She couldn't remember this episode, but she knew that Steeljaw was in the later ones and he was free. So either this was a trick or someone broke him out.

"Scorpinox is not on the list of the Alchemor's prisoners," said Fix-it. "According to our extended database, Scorpinox is an intimidator and he used to pillage towns and burn them to the ground."

"He sounds nice," said Denny sarcastically.

"Paige?" said Bumblebee as he tried to get her attention.

"I don't remember why he's here, but he's probably not the only Con not accounted for," said Paige in explanation. "Other ships could have crashed here. That seems to be the theme on Earth. He also might have escaped from Windblade's prisons. Regardless, I do know that he wants the same thing Steeljaw wants. He wants to rule and he's working on building an army."

The Autobots went out to investigate a new Con signal, but Paige had an uneasy feeling about Steeljaw so she walked over to the stasis pods and sat there watching. When she saw the pod start to open, she ran for the others who were in the command center and yelled a warning. Steeljaw was too fast for her and he grabbed her as he ran toward the command center. Fix-it and the others foolishly ran to her aid even though she knew they could do nothing about it.

"The Autobots are so easily mislead," said Steeljaw smirking. Paige couldn't help but silently agree with that though in their defense, they didn't aim to deceive. Steeljaw quickly captured the others in a bubble like force field. Paige had to admit now that she was closer to him, she had only just realized that his wounds matched his own claws. He had probably injured himself. "Now then, the last time I was here you demonstrated significant power and I want to take some with me."

Paige figured he was talking about the perimeter defenses though he could also be talking about Fix-it himself. "Like that's going to happen," said Paige from his hand. "You should really save yourself some time and just leave now." Steeljaw scowled at her and then narrowed his eyes.

"Weren't you smaller last time?" he asked.

"Growth spurt," said Paige shrugging. Now that she had his attention however she tried to keep it because that would give him less time to constrict the force field around the others and more time for the bots to arrive. "So Scorpinox is your leader now," she said. "So much for you leading the Cons. It won't be as easy as you think to take the leadership from him and that femme that helps him. I didn't like her, but I don't remember her name. Anyway maybe you should quit while you're ahead. There are far more easier planets to conquer than Earth considering the human race was spawned by Unicron even if it wasn't intentional. Not that he likes us much, but then again he doesn't like any of you Cybertronians either. You're Primus' creations after all."

"Silence," said Steeljaw increasing the grip he had on her and slightly shaking her.

Paige found it more difficult to breathe, but she couldn't resist one more jab. "It was rumored that Scorpinox was an agent of Unicron. Maybe you've become one too and you don't even realize it. After all, you were deceived by Megatronus earlier." Suddenly the pressure increased and then suddenly disappeared as Steeljaw dropped her. Paige yelped as she fell to the ground while Steeljaw turned to battle against Strongarm who had suddenly appeared. Apparently the remote for the force field that he held in the other hand was more important than her. Paige hit the ground on her feet and rolled absorbing the impact as best she could. It wasn't that easy with a bum arm, but she managed to avoid major injury. Strongarm managed to get the remote for the force field away from Steeljaw so she could release Fix-it and the others. Steeljaw retreated, but he was able to spring several of the Cons from their stasis chambers before he left.

"What did he want?" asked Strongarm.

"He wanted firepower," said Fix-it as he returned to the command center.

"He wants what he wanted in the beginning," said Paige dusting herself off as best she could. "He wants his own army. He won't be satisfied being Scorpinox's lackey. He wants to rule."


	35. Chapter 35

The missions continued on like normal until Bumblebee took a break and went off to see a concert with Russel. In the meantime Grimlock and Fix-it created a crane disguise so Grimlock could go on missions in the city. This came in handy when Strongarm and Bumblebee got towed after an unsuccessful incident with a new Con.

Grimlock and Strongarm were currently working on a gun turret and Bumblebee had to step in to assist so it didn't explode once it started to overload. "I have the reset code memorized since it happened to me before," said Bumblebee adjusting the turret's controls. "What would you do without me?" Bumblebee asked jumping back down into the scrapyard.

Fix-it called for his attention and explained some of the fixes that he had done to the ground bridge. Paige was not far from him because it always made her feel antsy when Fix-it started messing with the ground bridge. It was in much better shape than it had been in the cartoons because of her previous intervention, but there were too many times the ground bridge was involved when something spontaneously happened. Everyone gathered around and Fix-it activated the ground bridge. Suddenly a secondary ground bridge appeared in the air over the first.

"Shut it down!" yelled Paige as she ran for the panel. She knew what was coming and she wanted to avoid it at all costs. She wasn't fast enough though and the two portals merged allowing a portal to the shadow zone to form and Soundwave to escape. He flew over their heads and transformed behind them.

"No, it can't be," said Bumblebee.

Fix-it suddenly grabbed Paige and pulled her out of the way of Soundwave's fire. He was strong for a little guy and Paige mentally swore since she could no longer reach the control panel. The Autobots engaged Soundwave and he released Laserbeak in order to combat them. Paige struggled and finally broke away from Fix-it. She immediately went for the control boxes that she knew Soundwave would need to use. If she could steal a part he needed, she could prevent his next actions. Before she could do that, she was knocked over by one of his tentacles.

"Soundwave, stand down!" yelled Paige ducking behind another electronics box. Naturally he didn't listen. "The war is over! The Decepticons lost and Cybertron is restored!" she continued. "Megatron has given up the war. Your signal won't reach him from here. Leave this planet and find him if you want, but the war is over. You were on the Nemesis. You should have seen what happened even in the shadow zone." Paige disconnected a cord from the box and then ran into the command center and tried to shut down the ground bridge from there. She didn't see Soundwave's tentacle until it was too late. She had mistakenly thought that he was going to be distracted by the others, but apparently they had retreated already. The tentacle got ahold of her and suddenly she was airborne. She saw a flash of purple as she was tossed through the portal. She was lucky that Bumblebee was fast because he caught her before she hit the ground. It seemed like it was her week to get thrown around.

"Are you all right?" asked Bumblebee flipping her upright. The portal suddenly disappeared leaving them trapped.

Paige nodded. "I'm just mad that I couldn't stop him," she said looking around. "Soundwave survived here, but I'm hoping that Skyquake ran out of energon and went offline. The last thing I want to do is fight a zombie. Did you get in touch with the others yet?" she asked.

"Doing that now," said Bumblebee. "It's up to them or you and I will be trapped here for a long time."

"No," muttered Paige darkly. "Only you will be. I won't survive that long."

"We need a plan," said Bumblebee.

"You'll have to use the rest of the team," said Paige as she watched them run around haphazardly avoiding Soundwave's tentacles. "He's going to try and send out a signal to contact Megatron. I don't think Megatron is close enough to respond, but it might attract other Cons and we already have enough of a problem."

Strongarm and Grimlock were unconscious and the others had fled to the safety of the scrapyard. Bumblebee tracked them down and began explaining to them what was happening and who Soundwave was, but Paige couldn't hear them because he was talking over the radio waves. She could see them though so she knew what was going on. Fix-it, Denny and Russel went off to try and destroy the array that Soundwave was building. Laserbeak went after them when their shot missed the array and nearly hit Soundwave instead.

"Oh, I can't watch," said Bumblebee putting a hand over his optics.

"It'll be fine," said Paige reassuringly. "Probably."

Strongarm and Grimlock finally came back online, but had to repeatedly dodge the portals that Soundwave was opening up to stop them. They both disappeared into one and Paige knew they were fighting Laserbeak in the quarry.

Bumblebee quickly came up with a plan and Fix-it, Denny and Russel went to engage Soundwave again. While Denny and Russel distracted Soundwave, Fix-it reactivated the portal to the shadow zone. Bumblebee came through and took on Soundwave taking out the array first. Paige ran out as well and went toward the control panel where Fix-it and Russel waited. Denny used the magnet on his crane to hit Soundwave from behind while he was preoccupied with Bumblebee and it sent him flying back into the portal and the shadow zone.

"You did it! You pulled it off!" exclaimed Bumblebee. "Close the portal!"

"Wait," called Grimlock as he and Strongarm arrived. "I think there's room for one more." Grimlock tossed in Laserbeak and Paige closed the portal soon after.

"Good job you guys," said Paige. "But Fix-it, the ground bridge."

"I'm on it," said Fix-it zooming back to the control center. "I'll revert the changes I made."

"Good," said Paige. "We don't need a repeat. I'm sure he'll be plenty mad."

Later Bumblebee approached Paige where she sat by herself on the fridge that had gotten tossed by the fight. She looked like she was lost in thought and didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Paige," said Bumblebee with a frown. "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking," said Paige looking up. "Sorry about not reaching the controls fast enough. I could have prevented the situation entirely."

"It's not your fault anymore than it's Fix-it's," said Bumblebee shaking his head. "You remind me of Optimus sometimes always trying to carry everything on your shoulders by yourself."

Paige laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "I'm not some noble self sacrificing Autobot fighting for a cause," she replied. "I'm human and all I have to offer is my knowledge. It's you and your team that does most of the work and I'm afraid if I get too involved something will go wrong." They lapsed into silence.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Bumblebee. "As the humans say."

"I was just thinking about Soundwave," admitted Paige reluctantly. "I know he's one of your more dangerous enemies and there are probably things he's done that I haven't witnessed, but his actions confuse me."

"What do you mean?" asked Bumblebee.

"He didn't offline Strongarm or Grimlock when he had the chance," said Paige. "Or Fix-it and the others even though he could rub that in your face since he knew you could see, but not act. It was like he was trying to disarm them and then he just ignored them like they didn't matter. I've seen it before in his actions during the war. Don't get me wrong, he may have killed thousands of Autobots and I just never saw it, but his behavior is perplexing. If he had taken everyone out first, he could have worked at his leisure, but the array seemed to be his only concern. Maybe he has a condition that makes him hyper focused on only one task or one that makes him think he's superior to everyone. We have both of those on Earth. I'm confused because even though he was just released, his only aim was to find Megatron. This means he knew that Megatron was still alive and that the war was over. Had he taken you all down permanently, that would have given the rest of the Autobots another reason to hunt him down immediately and he obviously didn't want that. So I'm wondering what his relationship with Megatron really was."

"He was Megatron's loyal second in command," said Bumblebee shrugging.

"Sorry, I can't help but try to equate that with human relationships which probably don't apply," said Paige looking up at the night sky. "Loyalty like that is rare in humans. Soundwave will probably get out one day in the future and reconnect with Megatron."

"Do you think they'll start another war?" asked Bumblebee in concern.

"No," said Paige. "There's plenty of others out there who can cause problems and I doubt Megatron is motivated to do so. Besides, Soundwave owes your team one now."

"How's that?" asked Bumblebee in confusion.

"You didn't offline Laserbeak and make him watch," said Paige.

Bumblebee looked taken aback. "I would never," he began.

"Of course not," said Paige rising from her seat. "Because you're an Autobot. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way."

"Paige," said Bumblebee calling after her as she walked away. "What's wrong? You don't usually act this way."

"No worries," said Paige not even looking back. "I'm just moody right now."

For some reason Bumblebee didn't believe her.


End file.
